Pokemon XD002: Return of Shadows
by DaughterOfTheRedCloud
Summary: Emma Thorn is a trainer from the Orre Region. Her dream is to travel to all the other regions and battle against their Gym Leaders and Pokemon Leagues, and then she'll return home and create Orre's first Pokemon League. But can she when Team Rocket interferes with something that was thought to be in the past? And has Cipher truly returned?
1. Chapter 1

(A/N): I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters. I only own my OC's

I would also like to say sorry to all those who read first Tragic Serenity chapters. I took them down because I felt that they were going a little too fast and I felt the need to slow it down. My apologizes if you were reading it but I hope you would like the newer version.

Summary: Emma Thorn is a trainer from the Orre Region. Her dream is to travel to all other regions and battle against their Gym Leaders and Pokemon Leagues, and then she'll return home and create Orre's first Pokemon League. But can she when Team Rocket interferes with something that was thought to be in the past?

Chapter 1

Emma Thorn walked down the hallway at a steady pace with her partner, Eevee, sitting comfortably on her shoulder. Her Eevee was currently munching on some of its favorite food, cherries. Emma grimaced as her partner threw the stems down on the floor without care.

"Eevee" She scolded the brown fluff ball, who just shrugged and gave her an innocent look before she went back to chewing on another cherry that was underneath her paw.

She sighed, running a hand through her blonde hair "Alright but if that janitor starts raising cane again because you were too lazy to hold the stems and I get in trouble, no cherries for a week."

"Vee! Eevee ev!" She argued before hopping off her shoulder and began picking up the 5 stems she had dropped. Emma just smiled at her partner as her old friend grumpily picked up each stem in her mouth and after gathering them she jumped on the trashcan and threw them in.

Eevee stayed on the trashcan and chewed the last cherry she had before discarding its stem in the trashcan. She stretched her body and gave out a small 'Ve'. Turning around she saw her trainer waiting patiently for her, leaning against the wall with her eyes closed.

She could tell her trainer was still tired from the night before because she was now ten years old. She was now old enough to become a trainer which had kept them both up all night. Since today was the day they leave the lab and head to Kanto–Emma's original homeland before her mother had moved them to the Orre region when she was two—they had spent all night getting everything they would need for their journey. Well mostly Emma, Eevee spent her time lounging on Emma's bed laughing as Emma ran through the room gathering the things they might need and getting her clothes she would wear together and lying them on the end of her medium sized bed. Her clothes consisted of a blue T-shirt, A black sleeve less hoodie that had a casual fit on her slim waist; zipped up stopping at the bottom of her bust, black fingerless gloves, blue jean shorts that had rips in them, and black running shoes with grey designs.

Eevee jumped off the trashcan with grace and ran to her unsuspecting prey, gaining speed she pounced, and landing right on Emma's shoulder sending them both toppling to the ground.

Emma gave out a cry of shock as she felt something slam onto her shoulder, sending her to the ground on her back, while the attacker jumped off landing beside her falling body. Opening her eyes she looked to her left to see Eevee giving her a cute little smirk.

She sighed and stood up; honestly she should have been expecting something from the little prideful girl. Emma was just thankful that she had her Messenger bag on her side this time since it absorbed some of the impact.

She looked over at her partner who was grinning at her "Alright Eevee come on, Prof. Micheal is going to be mad if we're late." She told her as she picked her up and carried her in her arms. Eevee nuzzled her head in the crook of Emma's neck lovingly, feeling slightly guilty when she saw the mark that her small claws had made on impact.

Emma patted the tuff of fur on her head and turned a corner "it's okay little lady, I've been through worse than this, you know"

Eevee nodded her head "Eevee ve ev"

Emma smiled at her and gave her a kiss on her head making Eevee give her a loving 'Vi' and climb up onto her shoulders. She giggled as Eevee's feet tickled her neck and rubbed her back fur.

Soon both Emma and Eevee were standing in front of the Prof. Michael's office door.

Emma took a deep breath, glaring at the door determinedly and raised her hand to knock but right as she was about to knock the door swished open and someone came barreling out, slamming her to the ground.

"Two times in one day…" She mumbled miserably as she landed with her butt in the air, with Eevee lying beside her with swirly eyes.

"Ow, ow, ow…" The mysterious women whined, sitting on the ground rubbing her head.

Scrambling to her feet Emma faced the women "The hell lady, why did you run in to me!"

The women glanced up at her and scoffed, flicking her black hair over her shoulders "Shut it brat and my name is Violet not lady, so get it right"

The women, Emma had to admit, was pretty. Violet had long black hair that was pulled over her shoulder with black eyes and the lady had a nice figure. Emma tilted her head when she noticed the women dressed all professional, she didn't remember the Professor saying anything about an appointment today.

"Like I care what your name is" Emma said, glaring at the lady who-should-not-be-named. Eevee stood by her left leg growling; her lips curled back and snarled at the women for hurting and disrespecting her trainer.

"Emma…" Prof. Micheal called coolly, leaning against the doorway staring at them both.

Upon hearing her name, Emma stood straight up and looked up at the Professor/teacher, who taught her how to take care of Eevee and helped train them both along with Gym leader Justy, or Big Brother as she called him, who visited her a few times or either she would go and visit him. She blushed, feeling embarrassed that she had just used profanity in front of the person she looked up to.

She shifted from foot to foot under his glare, feeling as if she had just gotten into trouble "Sorry" She grumbled.

He gave her a confused look "What are you…" then he noticed how she had her head down as if she was in trouble. He sent the young girl a small smile but kept his sea green eyes on Violet, who watched Emma with great interest "Emma you're not in trouble."

"Oh, ok…oh yeah Professor, I'm here for my trainer card and Pokeballs, since ya know, I'm 10 and all" Emma explained cheerfully as she rocked on the balls of her feet, totally ignorant of the look she was getting from the women she had just met but Eevee saw the look and began glaring at the women.

The Prof. nodded, sending his spikey red-ish brown hair swaying "I understand, just step into my office and I'll be there in a few moments"

She nodded, scooping up a still growling Eevee, officially breaking the staring contest that she and Violet was having. She shook her head at her Eevee's childish nature even though it was cute how she was pouting with ears flattened. Tightening her hands securely around Eevee, she walked into the large office and stood waiting.

The office itself was very plain; it was in an oval shape with three doors leading out the room. Like every other room the Lab the room was silver and white, with only a messy desk at the back of the room, a bookcase on each side of it, and small tree plants place in the two empty corners of the room. There was also a strange machine near his desk that looked like it was supposed to hold something but whatever it was it was missing.

Walking over to the desk, she placed her Eevee in the space that didn't have any papers scattered and started fiddling with the hem of her baggy vest. Eevee whined loudly, gaining Emma's attention.

Emma blinked "What's wrong Eevee?"

"Ev Eevee! Ve Ev!" Eevee huffed, trying to get her trainers attention. She knew her trainer was getting nervous about traveling to the Kanto region but they had planned it ever since Eevee had seen her first Pokemon battle.

Eevee didn't know what to make of the two large Pokemon battling on the field in a colosseum, as Emma had called it. After a while it began to make since to her. Each Pokemon was fighting, after gaining orders from their trainers, and was hoping to win to make their trainers happy and to be known as the strongest. Eevee was in awe when she watched on as the battle began getting tense, the crowd roaring and cheering for either side, both trainers also cheering on their Pokemon, who growled and roared at each other declaring that they would when.

Eevee found herself wanting that. To be in their place, fighting for the top spot; she felt a sudden rush when she thought of what it would be like if her and Emma was down there fighting. After that she began dragging Emma to a secret spot where they could train, where she could grow stronger. Being stronger wasn't the only thing she wanted. She also wanted to be strong enough to protect Emma,_ her_ human. She learned from Emma, who usually talked to her while sitting in the stall with a large Pokemon named Khan and a baby Pokemon named Raid, that Orre was a dangerous place to be. Khan had nodded its head in agreement, unconsciously rubbing a long scar that ran along her arm. That's when Eevee had made a promise to grow strong and to protect her precious person.

Emma sweat dropped "You know I can't understand you, right?"

Eevee deflated and fell back. Emma laughed lowly, watching her Pokemon as she acted dramatic over nothing or at least she thought it was nothing. She then began rubbing the irritated Pokémon's stomach as an apology for not understanding.

Hearing the door open up, Eevee jumped up excitedly and hopped on her usual spot on Emma's left shoulder. Said girl, shifted getting comfortable with the extra weight on her shoulder as she watched her teacher walk up to her with a frown on his face and his green eyes slightly glazed over.

She snapped her fingers. "Hey, Professor are you all right?

"Huh? Oh yes. I'm fine" He said with a nod of his head.

He walked over to his desk and pulled out a pack from the top drawer. "You'll have to forgive me, Emma. I know how you hate waiting but I had an unsuspecting visitor today"

She waved him off. "It's fine, I understand and I really can't blame you but can I ask a question? I mean…if you don't mind?"

"Depends on the question" He replied sitting the bag on the table and untying the string that had kept it closed and poured out its contents.

"Well I was wondering who that lady was. She didn't seem very friendly…"

"That's because she isn't. Violet always had a nasty temper and it usually got the best of her sometimes"

"Talking from experience?" Emma asked curiously, fiddling with Eevee's Pokeball that she had made into a small chain that was hooked on her front belt loop on the right side. Beside it, her mother's lucky charm, a small Moon Shard, was left alone, shining beautifully in the light.

"Yep, knew her in my late teens, we used to work together but I got tired of that job seeing no point in it no more and returned here to work as a researcher. She is also working for Prof. Oak now and the reason for her being here is because Prof. Oak needed some more starters for the newbie trainers" He said, hoping that Emma wouldn't ask too many questions about his old partner.

Emma frowned noticing the sad smile he was now wearing. "Professor are you okay?"

He shook his head and gave her a forced smile, trying to block the unwanted memories that had surfaced. "Yes, I just thought of some unpleasant memories is all"

He cleared his throat. "Anyway, this is everything you're going to need for your journey"

Emma walked up beside him and glanced down at the items on the desk with interest. She couldn't help but feel giddy but also a little guilty for making the Professor had to buy this stuff from overseas since Orre didn't really have much of anything. On his desk was her Trainer Card, 5 Pokeballs, 5 bottles of potion, a cologne case, and 5 joy scents.

She nodded to him, silently thanking him for the gifts and picked them up, placing them each in a specific area: The Pokeballs in a rectangular left thigh holster used for easy access for grabbing them when needed and the potions in the bottom pocket of her bag, while the Joy Scents were placed in the Cologne box and that was placed in her bag, and her Trainer Card was placed in her pocket. She then motioned Eevee to hop on her shoulder so they could leave.

Turning to walk out the door, she stopped momentarily as she felt a hand on her shoulder. Looking back she saw that her used to be teacher was holding out a ticket of some kind.

She tilted her head confused "What's that?"

"It's a plane ride to Pallet Town, I kinda told Professor Oak about you and he wanted to meet you. Even said he had a gift to give to you." Prof. Micheal explained to her as she stuffed the ticket safely in her jean pocket.

"Thanks Prof. Micheal"

He laughed and ruffled her hair "Don't worry about it Emma it been a pleasure teaching you. Now go on and head outside there will be a plane waiting on you and don't forget to call Clay or tell Lillian good bye!"

She nodded and happily skipped out his office, going towards her room. She had just remembered that she had left her P DA, a device that had been given to her when she turned 8, on her bed and now had to travel to the second floor just to get it. Stepping into the glass elevator, she pressed the button for the second floor and waited, leaning against the shining glass. The cool glass felt great against the bare skin of her arms.

Hearing the 'Ding' and seeing the doors slid open she walked out and made her way to the last door. Punching in a code that was given to her when she first arrived, she walked in to her large room.

Her room was a lot more colorful than the rest of the rooms they had at HQ, even though it had the same designs. The room has blue walls that Emma has painted over the white ones, a white floor, a large bed, a nightstand, a dresser, and shelves full of colorful stones that Duking from Pyrite Town had given her since her 5th birthday, after she meet him for the first time when Prof. Michael introduced them. She also had posters on her walls of battles that happened in other Regions. Beside her bed was Eevee's small resting place, where she used to sleep as an egg when she wasn't at the Pokemon Center. Nurse June believed Eevee would be safer on the floor where Emma wouldn't roll on it.

That was also how she met Kangaskhan, who was getting a checkup for her and her child in the Pokemon Center, and after their meeting Emma would spend hours with the mothering Pokemon who had adopted the girl as her own, as the large mother would always growl if she felt someone had bad intent towards the young girl. Later on, at age 7, when Emma was visiting 'Khan' as she nicknamed the Pokemon with her 11 month old Eevee; she had meet Gym Leader Clay.

Clay had come to visit the lab where he usually stayed at when he was training in Orre. The Orre region had rough terrain which was good for training his Pokemon in. He and Emma had crossed paths an hour after he arrived and both shared an immediate dislike towards each other as both had bad tempers. Her mother, who was named, Lillian, an assistant to Prof. Krane, had tried getting Emma to make friends with the younger children since she thought that she had an unhealthy relationship with the Eevee and the Kangaskhan because the young girl spent all her time with each of them. That led to an argument between the two and then Clay had stepped in telling Emma that she should respect her mother's wishes. Him saying that made her feel guilty, but Khan became violent towards the man and began showing him warnings to go away. Later when Emma was with Khan, Clay had visited her and lectured her for 2 hours on things about respect. In the end, Emma had gained respect for the man and began calling him 'Papa Clay.' Though Khan showed and still shows a dislike for the man as she would give out a small growl when he's near and stomp her feet in agitation.

She later hung around Clay as much as she could and would always call him. After hearing her talk about being a trainer, he began training her and Eevee, while Prof. Micheal would teach her all about taking care of her Pokemon. Clay visited 3 times a month for about two weeks before he returned home but after the rising criminal activity in all the regions he was forced to stay in his town by the Mayor's order. They still kept in contact on her phone or the HQ monitor.

Emma laughed some, recalling the memories of her past, unconsciously scratching Eevee's head. She leaned into her touch, happily accepting her trainers loving affections.

She picked up her phone and placed in in her pocket where her ticket was at, and then she walked out her room and rode down to the bottom floor.

As she walked Eevee went rigid on her shoulder, making her send Eevee a questioning look as she stopped in front of the reception's desk. Strangely the desk was empty. This concerned Emma greatly, the reception lady never left the desk unless it was her break or time for bed. The women always took her job seriously. Looking at Eevee, she knew from the way her fur was slightly spiked up there was some kind of danger lurking around.

Suddenly Eevee jumped off her shoulder and ran out the door, speeding around the building to the front.

"Eevee!" Emma cried worriedly, running after her. Eevee usually never left her side, preferring to stay near her for protection and would usually bite anyone who was deemed a threat to her or had ill intent. And now, seeing her running towards something bad had made her feel slightly scared for her well-being if there was anyone bad at the lab.

But she couldn't help but wonder why someone would have ill intent against the Pokemon HQ Lab, as she ran to around the building. Her muscles burned from running since she doesn't really like working out. _'After this I'm so gonna start running and exercising'_ Emma thought, letting out a puff of breath.

Finally reaching the front of the building she ran towards her mother and Eevee's side, watching the scene before her. There was a large hover truck sitting in the drive way with two strange looking men dressed in black outfits with a large red 'R' on the front. Both were trying to force a tied up Prof. Krane into the trunk of the truck.

"Let go of him" Emma shouted running up to them with Eevee by her side, while one of the Professors ran back into the lab to call Police.

One of the men dressed in the strange outfit walked forward as his larger, more muscled partner dressed in the same outfit harshly pushed the Professor into the trunk and closed it "Well, well what do we have here another little hero?"

"Actually since I'm a girl it would be heroine but yeah. Now release him or you'll get a nasty bite from my partner. Right Eevee!" Eevee nodded and let out a loud 'Ve' with her body crouched lowly ready for an attack.

The man snorted loudly "Alright little girl let's see what you and the fluff ball can do" He threw a pokeball that he had took from his belt pouch and threw it calling out 'Ralts'. The small Pokemon appeared in a flash of red and white, swaying to a non-existent beat.

Eevee ran in front of Emma, feeling eager to battle since they hadn't trained in a while "Eevee~" She called out in a sing song voice, taunting her enemy.

Eevee had always been that way in battle; loving to taunt the enemy and then strike when they were distracted. She had a brave nature and was proud of her power, always showing off after a battle that they won.

The Ralts let out a tiny growl in return, showing that the taunt had worked and had now made it angry "Ralts use Shadow Rush"

'_Shadow Rush?'_ Emma thought warily, she had never heard that moved before "Eevee dodge and use Tail Whip!"

Thankfully Eevee managed to dodge the surprisingly fast Ralts and getting a few feet between her and the enemy she charged and slapped the Ralts back with her tail.

The Ralts cried out in surprise, backing up a few feet, trying to shake the attack off "Eevee quick attack!"

Eevee nodded and ran towards the enemy zigzagging in case of a surprise attack "Ve!" She cried as she knocks into the smaller Pokemon sending it crashing into the tree.

But to both Eevee and her trainer was shocked as the Ralts brushed of the attack despite the damage it received.

Seeing her shocked face, the man snickered "Heh thought my Ralts would go down easily, huh? Well little girl, my Pokemon isn't normal like yours, it's a shadow Pokemon!"

Her mother gasped in horror and stumbled back. "Shadow Pokemon! Emma stop battling you can't win!"

Emma snorted "Thanks for the confidence _Mother_" On the inside though, Emma was panicking. She knew what a Shadow Pokemon was and how strong they were from the stories Elder Eagun had told her when she was younger. She tensed, she knew she couldn't win but that didn't mean she couldn't buy enough time for Prof. Michael to help.

"Now is not the time to argue with me Emma! Just please stop the battle!" Lillian pleaded with the thickheaded girl, who just ignored her and kept her focus on the enemy.

The man nodded "Listen to your mother girl, she knows what she's talking about"

"Shut up" she snapped at the man. "Now Eevee lets show them why they shouldn't underestimate us"

Her partner shifted on all floors and nodded somewhat hesitantly, she knew that the man had spoken truth about the enemy pokemon being different but she obeyed Emma "Eve!"

The man smirked "Ralts end this now, Shadow Rush!"

The small white Pokemon wasted no time in charging full speed at Eevee, its speed gaining by the second. It gave out a small war cry as it slammed into its enemy easily knocking it back a few feet.

Emma's eyes widened as the Ralts suddenly was beside Eevee, she panicked watching as her Eevee was slammed harshly by the smaller Pokemon. She gritted her teeth, cursing at herself when she saw the amount of damage that move inflicted on Eevee. Her hands clinched tightly _'Instead of him underestimating me, I underestimated him!' _She gritted her teeth. _'Where the heck is the Professor?'_

Eevee whined at the pain she was now in and fell to the ground in exhaustion at the powerful move her foe had used "Vee…" She cried

"Eevee!" Emma screamed, as she notice the Ralts was getting ready to attack again without his trainers orders.

She ran towards her ignoring her mother's screams and the yells from the man trying to order his Ralts to back down. It seemed to go in slow motion for her as she rushed towards her Pokemon, who was staring at her with pain filled eyes. Her eyes stung with tears that threatened to fall down her face when she used her body to protect her partner from the nasty blow that sent them both sliding and rolling across the rough ground. Her ribs stung and were only getting worse by the minute. She ignored it as best she could and focused her attention on Eevee, who was now past out in her arms, and murmured softly to Eevee telling her how sorry she was for being cocky in battle.

She grimaced when she felt someone rush to her side and picked her up, carrying her off to who knows where. Her arms wrapped securely around Eevee despite it only causing her more pain. She could only remember seeing the man go to withdraw his Pokemon but before he could a rouge ball came out of nowhere and easily caught the strange Pokemon. Then everything went black as she finally allowed herself to succumb to the darkness, with sirens sounding in the distance.

TBC…

R&R


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, but I do own all of my Oc's.

Chapter 2

It was a few hours later when Emma had awoken in a white bed in the infirmary. She let out a small moan of pain when her muscles painfully flexed reflexively. She could tell she was going to be in pain for a few days but it was a pain she could ignore. Though, her headache wasn't as manageable, when she opened her eyes, greeted by the late afternoon sun. She hissed in annoyance, wishing someone would have closed the blinds as the sunlight burned her eye.

As though it heard her thoughts the blinds closed, leaving her in the dark. She sighed with content but it was ruined when a voice broke through the silence.

"Can't keep out of trouble can you?" The voice asked in a low mocking tone, somewhere across from her.

Emma groaned. She knew that voice.

"What…doyou…want?" She asked, her speech slurred from just waking up. She shifted on the bed, ignoring the pain that made its way up her back and twisted around her waist. She sat up and turned to face Violet with a sleepy, pain filled expression.

Violet was sitting across from her on top of a white counter top, arms and legs crossed. The beautiful women wore a scowl on her face that greatly diminished her beauty as she glared at Emma with piercing eyes. "Nothing that you have, the only reason I'm here is waiting for you to get up so we could leave."

"We?" Emma asked confused. Violet didn't say anything for a second, only tapping her hand restlessly against the counter top. Emma gritted her teeth in annoyance but held on to numerous amounts of comments that wanted to spill from her mouth, along with questions.

She gripped the cover, pulled it back and placed her feet onto the cold white floor. She hesitated before putting her full weight on her legs. They felt like jelly, weak and wiggly. She placed her hands on the railing that was on the infirmary bed, gripping them tightly has she began to regain her balance.

She stood there for a moment before she had enough confidence to let go of the railing and turned to Violet, who watched her with eyes that seemed to look right into her soul. "What do…you mean we?"

Violet sighed in annoyance. "We as in both me and you leaving the Orre region by plane. How on earth do think I got here?" She spoke in a low tone as if someone was listening in. Her low tone made Emma strain her ears just to hear her whisper.

Emma glared at the way she was talking to her…like she was a five year old! "How was I supposed to know? Prof. Micheal never told me anything about riding in a plane with you!"

"Calm down brat" Violet said, looking away from Emma, shifting her gaze to the door that led to the hallway were footsteps could be heard coming towards the door "It seems they're coming to check on you…Michael was always a mother hen along with your mother"

Emma rolled her eyes and sat back down on the bed, slowly and easily, not wanting the pain in her ribs to get worse. "It's in their nature" She said softly, with a smile. She could remember all the times the Professor went into mommy mode if she ever got hurt. He was like a father figure to her, but she already had a father. Though he was in the Unova Region doing research on some pokemon there, at least that's what her mother had told her. Her and her father, Prof. Chris, had a very close relationship but sometimes he put too much time into research. But Emma and her mother both loved how he was active and always in wonder about the mysteries of the Pokemon world.

Her father was lean and didn't really have a muscular figure. He had short brown hair, pale skin, blue eyes, and held a nerdy, cute look. He had a strong love for Pokemon and always caught lots in each region he went to, always showing off them proudly to a young Emma and her mother.

"You said it" Violet said. She opened her mouth to say something else but closed it when Prof. Krane, Prof. Michael, and Emma's mother came in.

Eevee who was on her mother's shoulder jumped on the bed and trotted over to Emma, with her ears perked up and a worried feeling rolling off of her. Emma could tell Eevee was stressed by the muscles in her arms and legs looking strained. Eevee rubbed her head against Emma's side, nuzzling her hip. Emma rubbed the small Pokémon's head, pulling lightly on the longer hair on its forehead, then letting go and returned to rubbing her head. Eevee purred loudly as Emma massaged her scalp.

"Emma how are you feeling?" Her mother asked, walking up to her, softly laying a hand on her shoulder.

Emma gave her a pained smile "Fine just in a little pain but I can managed"

"Oh honey" Her mother cooed worriedly, walking over to her daughter and giving her a light hug.

Her mother was a beautiful woman with long brown hair that was pulled into a low pony tail and slung over her left shoulder, light brown eyes that was filled with warmth that Emma loved, pale skin, and a nice figure. Her mother was head assistant at the Lab and highly looked upon by others. She had a kind and caring personality but also an angry side that Emma never liked to see.

"Moooommmmmm" Emma whined, ignoring the pain that came with her mother hugging her lightly.

Prof. Krane frowned, staring at the bruises on Emma's stomach, where her vest had risen up. "It seems you took quiet a hit Emma"

"I did got the bruises to prove it" She says, rubbing her stomach soothingly to dull the pain.

He shook his head "You should have never fought, you should have listened to your mother" He gave her a look "Didn't Justy teach you about what happens when you get cocky in battle?"

She nodded and looked down, embarrassed. "Yes sir, you lose and make a big fool of yourself and your mentors"

"Exactly, you made yourself look like a fool today and lost the battle but thankfully Michael was able to stop the two men and capture their Shadow Pokemon"

Her head snapped up. "S-Shadow Pokemon?" Her eyes widened in fear. "But h-how? I thought Prof. Michael purified them all?"

Prof. Michael looked at her with a grim expression "I did but it seems that Shadow Pokemon once again has been created"

She jumped up from her spot. "Then we need to stop them or something!"

Her mother gave her a stern gaze and crossed her arms. "No Emma it's too dangerous to even consider that. Your just a child!" Seeing Emma's angered look, she glared.

Emma began to protest. "But!-"

"No buts Emma I'll deal with this like I did in the past" Prof. Michael said in a voice that she couldn't argue with.

She frowned. "Then how am I supposed to help?"

"By going to Kanto where it's safe and you could start your journey" Prof. Krane told her.

"That's not helping" She hissed, seething.

"Actually," Violet butted in; walking over to the group "It is helping. Think about it, you won't be here to be a burden they'll have to worry about" She told them, ignoring the looks that screamed for her to butt out and go somewhere else. She smirked mentally when they all glared at her but the small 10 year old was absolutely seething, her face turning red from anger.

Her mother began to protest. "She won't be a bur-"

"Yes she will" Violet snapped, rubbing the bridge of her nose "One of those damn grunts managed to get away and what do you think they'll say to their leader when a girl that was trained by one of the former heroes, a Pre Gym Leader, and Elder Eagun of the Agate Village, fought him with an Eevee like both Wes and Michael had when they saved the Orre Region. They'll see her as a threat to them and come after her."

Emma felt a lump in her throat, her anger quickly being replaced with fear. "Is that true?" She asked. Could she really be that much of a threat to Team Rocket? She was only a Newbie Trainer for crying out loud! What could _they_ possible fear from _her_?

Lillian rushed to console her daughter. "Of course not honey" She sat down beside her and wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Violet huffed and turned away from the group. "If you're going to keep lying to the girl I'm leaving." She left out the door swiftly after that, her heels clicking softly down the hall, their echoing getting farther away as she walked down the hall.

"Mom?" Emma asked fearfully, staring up at her mother.

Lillian wrapped an arm around her shoulder, placing her head in the crook of her neck "Don't worry Emma I won't let them hurt you" She whispered reassuringly but Emma didn't believe it. She knew her mother couldn't protect her against Shadow Pokemon, the strongest breed of Pokemon there was. What could she, a woman, do against a Pokemon? She isn't even a Pokemon trainer. Heck she doesn't even own a Pokemon!

"She's right Emma we won't let anything happen to you, right Espeon?" Prof. Michael asked the light purple cat like Pokemon that sat near his feet.

"Esp!" He barked in agreement, the gem on his head glowed, showing her his power to protect her. The Espeon walked from its spot, walking gracefully over to Emma's bed and jumped in an empty spot at her side. He rubbed his head against her side in a circular motion, making sure to be careful in how much pressure he applied.

Emma calmed down and nodded, trying to slow her ragged breathing "Okay…I trust you both" She thought for a moment. "But mostly you Espeon, I'm counting on you to protect me."

Espeon puffed out his chest in pride, the tuff of fur on his chest spiking out "Espe Esp"

She giggled but stopped when she looked down to an irritated Eevee, who gave out a low growl "Ev Eevee!"

She gave her a small smile, then placed her in her lap "I trust you as well, love, as I always have" She began to stroke Eevee's thick soft back lovingly, electing a purr from Eevee.

Eevee yipped happily wagging her tail but stopped when Espeon barked at her "Esp!"

Eevee flicked its ears in confusion before noticing it was pushed up against Emma's bruised stomach. Noticing this, she moved away from her stomach area and went to lie down on top of the pillow Emma had just used.

Prof. Krane looked at Emma concerned. "Emma we need you to hurry up and head outside to the plane"

She stared. "What about my stuff And what about all of you?" In all honesty she didn't want to leave after learning that Shadow Pokemon was back. She wanted to help. But she knew Violet had made a point about the evil organization coming after her. She was a burden if she stayed behind but if she left how would she know what was happening down here in Orre? She already knew that if she called her mom, she would tell her everything is fine and going great, while it's actually not.

Maybe she could ask Ivan, Cyril, and Noel for help in that department. The three of them were all orphans, like most kids in Pyrite Town. These three were later taken in by Nett and Secc to become the new watchers of The Under, since Nett and Secc had now created ONBS. But before that when they were still 'Street Kids'—as Cyril had named them— they got money by battling in Duel Square or just stealing money from some unlucky person that passed by.

She had met them when she was 7 years old, along with Eevee, who was old enough to battle by that time. She remembered how she had accidently ended up in Duel Square, where the roughneck Pokemon Trainers battled. She had only been trained a few times and battled two times by that time but even at that level she knew she was too inexperienced to go against one of the older trainers. She was frightened, wishing that Duking, the town's Mayor/Leader, was there to help her. She remembered what he told her if she ever ended up in the wrong place in his Town. Eyes down and remain calm, cower away, acting innocent, if a trainer approaches you.

But you could call her lucky when it was a cute looking boy, with long chin length black colored hair, black eyes, and tanned skin came up to her with two others. Each of them dirty and looked roughed up.

The taller boy on the younger Cyril's right was Noel, who stared at her with calculating stared. He could probably tell she didn't belong there because of her clean white sun dress that her mother had made her wear. His shoulders slouched with his hands shoved deep within his pockets. She noticed how he fiddled with something in his left pocket. It had a round outline when he pressed it against the pants thin fabric. Probably a Pokeball. Noel had short sandy blonde hair, dark green eyes, tanned skin, and a well-built body.

On Cyril's left, stood Ivan, a nerdy looking boy with a large book under his arm. He had stood up straight; shoulders not slouched, his free hand hanging limply at his side. His body posture was stiff but relaxed at the same time. You could honestly tell he was the smart one in the group, from the nerdy look he had. The boy had mostly stared at her, pushing his large glasses up his nose. He had short dark brown hair, green eyes, and pale skin despite the sun always beaming down.

A few seconds had passed before Cyril had shouted out that he wanted to battle Emma, after noticing her Eevee. That had gained some attention from other trainers nearby, when they heard the boy scream out _'Eevee!' _and quickly began making their way toward Emma and the three kids but halted when they noticed an all too familiar person, Duking, storming toward them, looking very Intimidating. Though Emma thought of him as her savior, quickly rushing to his side before he even called her.

After that Duking kept a closer eye on her along with his daughter, but later Marcia felt it would be nice for a small walk and brought Emma with her, as her mother had left that morning to study Poke Spots with Duking for the day. Secc and Nett had joined their walk sometime later when they had walked past the ONBS building. As they were passing Duel square, she noticed three figures on the ground with a man standing above them. Secc had urged her to ignore this but she disobeyed, running into the middle of the square, by Noel's side.

She defended them, telling the man to leave them alone. But the man laughed, a low dark laugh, and grinned at her creepily. Before he could do anything Secc and Nett walked up beside Emma and warned the man not to hurt Emma as Duking didn't like when people threatened the people he cared for. Hearing Duking's name he along with other bystanders slowly left the area. Later they took the orphans back to Duking house and patched them up. After watching them for some time Secc and Nett decided to take them in. After that the three had become very good at gaining information and hacking. They had also become like brothers to her.

Yes, she'd defiantly have to call them so she could be up to date with everything in Orre. She sighed and nodded "Fine let me get my bag…" She trailed off as she slid off the bed and grabbed Eevee. She knew that she wasn't going to win the argument. Prof. Michael might have taken drastic measures to get her into the plane with force, if needed.

"Ah, don't worry about it!" Prof. Michael yelled behind her. "It's already in the plane!"

"Bye honey, bye Eevee!" Her mother yelled leaning out of the door way. "Emma make sure not to talk to strangers and to get enough rest!" Emma then heard her say in a lower voice "I love you…"

"Ok!" She shouted back, lifting up her arm, giving them a quick wave goodbye. She quickly made her way out of the building—saying goodbye to those she passed—and out of the door. She headed to a field—the Poke Field to be exact— and saw a small jet plane waiting in the middle of the grassy field. She walked towards it, passing curious Pokemon who watched the plane with interest.

The Pokemon in Poke Fields were purified Pokemon that Michael had caught and purified, along with others that were imported into the region. Pokemon here are breed and introduced to Orre landscape, in hope that they'll adapt to the rough terrain.

There was also starter Pokemon from different regions. The third evolution was sent to Poke Fields to create eggs that would hatch then be sent back to the Professors. Emma was a helper in watching over the many eggs in the egg barn, making sure the temperature was high or low enough for them, even polishing them. She was also there when they hatched, never missing it even if it was in the middle of the night. She, along with other caretakers, feed and took care of the small baby Pokemon until they were a few months old.

She was also there when Eevee had hatched from her egg. She could remember it like it was yesterday. Her sitting down on a wooden stool watching and waiting for the small creature to make an appearance, with her mother and a care taker sitting on both sides of her. She didn't, at that time, know that Eevee was going to be her partner until later when Prof. Michael took her on as an apprentice and began teaching her about caring for Eevee and teaching about battling. She was around 7 at that time.

She felt a bit guilty that she would be somewhat stronger than the starters in the Kanto region, if any ever challenged her. It was just Orre was a place where you had to grow up faster than normal, you had to adapt. It was because of its bad reputation that sometimes was over exaggerated by many, that had children from young ages battling and being able to grow and further protect themselves from any threat with their trusted Pokemon.

Sometimes children at the age of 9 competed in the Coliseum's and beat the champion's. This wasn't unheard of at all. Even Emma had competed twice in a colosseum battle, but the first she had lost in the second round and the second; she got to the semi-finals before her battle was forced in a draw.

Emma took a glance at the Poke Barn, where the Pokemon rested at. Different breeds surrounded the outside of the building, lazing around under the shade of the tall trees.

She frowned. "I'm really going to miss this Eevee"

"Ev ve!" She agreed.

"Finally you decided to grace me with your presence" Violet said sarcastically, when she saw Emma approaching the jet, with her Eevee curled around her neck, looking like a bushy scarf.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Just be glad I didn't take longer"

Violet shook her head. "Well come on we don't have all day, kid"

"My name is Emma. Come on say it EMMA" Emma told her, while following after into the jet.

"I'd rather not" She replied in a bored tone. She then pointed at a seat, where Emma was sure she was supposed to sit. Emma shrugged and sat in the seat that was in the row across from the seat Violet wanted her to be in.

"Your mean" Emma said and stuck her tongue out.

"And your childish" She resorted before taking a front row seat. She turned her head back, where Emma could only see her right eye that was being framed by her bangs. "Now listen here kid you don't mess with me and we won't have a problem. Got it?"

Emma nodded. "Yup!" She popped the 'P'.

Violet stared before she turned around and put earphones into her ears, drowning out everything else.

Seeing that she was being ignored, Emma looked down at her partner, who was in the window seat on her right. Eevee was staring out of the small circular shaped window, balancing by placing her front paws on the window and back paws on the leather seats. She watched in wonder as they took off, sailing above the ground.

Occasionally Eevee would yip at Emma, to get her attention, and show her what was outside the window. Being a land animal, she was not used to flying. But unlike most, she loved the thought of flying, never being afraid when a flying type at the fields would sometimes allow her to ride on their backs.

Emma smiled at her partner's happiness, but her smile soon fell into a grim frown. She wondered what the others were doing now. She was sure now that she was out of the picture, that Prof. Michael was getting ready to phone Duking about the latest discovery. She winced, knowing that whoever was creating Shadow Pokemon was going to get it. Duking had never really forgiven Cipher for stealing Plusle from him.

She sighed and leaned back into the comfortable seat, feeling exhausted take over.

The sun was already sinking down behind the large mountain, allowing darkness to cover the region. Emma's eyes drooped as she got comfortable in her seat, lying on her side, using a button to lean the seat back. She heard Eevee crawl over towards her and twitched as she felt her curl up into the curve of her stomach. Emma shifted as she felt something warm being laid over her, giving her and Eevee a warmth that made them both sigh. She heard a grumble that sounded vaguely familiar, but as of right now sleep was the most important thing to her.

TBC…

R&R


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was two days before the plane landed in a wide field just outside of Pallet Town. Both Emma and Eevee felt a giddy feeling rise up in them, despite being woken up rudely by Violet. The field they had landed in was quiet large, larger than the Poke Fields. It had tall glossy grass that swayed softly as a warm breeze blew across the open area; thick shrubbery surrounded the field except for a small path that Emma was sure lead to pallet town.

She must have been right as she trailed after Violet, who ignored her existence. Emma didn't care much for the women's foul attitude toward her, and chose to take her time to look a look at Kanto's scenery. It was beautiful, nothing like Orre's forest life. This forest was lush with glossy green plant life, so unlike the plants back in Orre that looked rougher. _'I wonder if their soft or rough?' _She wondered.

As she walked by a bush, she picked one of its leaves and rubbed it with her thumb. Yep, defiantly softer than Orre plants; it even shined brighter in the sun as though it was showing its glossy state proudly. It reminded her of Espeon and Eevee, who both took pride in their shiny coats. Like father like daughter some would say.

With her shiny coat and her shiny eyes, Eevee was considered well trained. She and Eevee both spent most of the time training together since they had nothing better to do around the lab in their free time. Plus, Emma had used many Joy Scents on Eevee since she loved a good massage and it also gave them a closer relationship.

It wasn't long until the Professors Lab came into view, sitting on top of a large hill. It looked like a homey little house as Emma had voice out but Violet shot that down saying that this was the Pokemon Lab. Emma glared at the women who expected her to know so much but already knew she knew little of this Region.

Emma snorted; she had read about Kanto before in a book that her mother had given her once. She read about a few pages before she got bored. Honestly, she wasn't much of a reader preferring being outside to staying cupped up in her room. Now, she couldn't remember what she had really read in the book, only remembering that the region is very different then Orre. More flourished, more beautiful, and obviously it had an abundant of Pokemon running around, waiting to be caught.

She rolled her shoulders to get a knot out of them. Eevee made a sound of protest and dug her claws into Emma's thin vest. She winced slightly at the feeling of her partner's claws digging into her but she ignored it as the pain in her stomach hurt worse. The pain had turned into a dull ache and the bruising had begun to turn lighter colors, signaling that they were beginning to go away. Emma grumbled in annoyance as she remembered those pain pills she had to take. Taking those made her feel like a druggie or something!

She sighed once more but then tilted her head in confusion. "Hey lady, what are all these people doing here? Did something happen?" Emma asked generally confused as a large crowd of people had gathered at the Lab's gates.

Violet just stared ahead. "They're here for an occasion, a very special one at that." She then glared at Eevee who once again started a staring or glaring contest between the two of them. "I thought you would have at least known about that. But never mind that, here I need you to take these," She threw a small bag at Emma. "Pokeballs to Prof. Oak."

"W-wait? W-w-what do you mean?" Emma asked as she scrambled to catch the bag, that she was sure was full of Pokeballs.

Violet groaned "Can't you just do something without asking questions?"

She got a glare and a narrowed eyed look from both Eevee and Emma.

"The bag," She pointed to the small brown leather bag in Emma's arms. "Are full of starter Pokemon for the Newbie trainers but since I'm busy I can't take them to the Professor-"

"So I'm your delivery girl?" Emma asked sarcastically with narrowed eyes.

"Yes" Violet said, smirking. She would have almost laughed as she saw the girls face turn red and stomp her feet like a child. Actually she was a child…

"B-but" Emma said, looking down at the bag, beginning to protest but when she looked up Violet was gone. "EH?!" She cried out, looking all around her but, for the life of her, she couldn't find Violet. "Where did she go?" She asked aloud, mostly to herself.

"Ve…" Even Eevee didn't have an answer as she, too, was looking for Violet.

Emma deflated before quickly recovering and rubbing her head in irritation. "Jeez, this is already becoming a drag." She frowned. "Great now I sound like Noel!" She whined loudly, throwing her hands up in the air.

Eevee scrunched up her nose. "Eevee ev"

"Yeah I know Eevee but never mind that, let's just head to Prof. Oak's Lab, and then we'll be able to start a journey" Emma said to Eevee as she began walking toward the Pokemon Lab.

Eevee frowned at Emma's down mood. She knew her trainer was anxious to start her journey but they remembered what Prof. Michael had told them, about Prof. Oak needing to give them something. Eevee felt curious about whatever the Professor was going to give Emma. It had to be something important if it was coming from the old man. She remembered when Prof. Krane had told them that Prof. Oak was a famous researcher.

It took ten minutes to reach the entrance of the Pokemon Lab. Emma was quiet annoyed a she had to head through the crowd that pushed her left to right, just to see the gates. She couldn't understand why they just didn't spread out more than being clustered up together. She grew even more annoyed when most women in the crowd began to fawn over Eevee, who purred at the attention.

Most people here meant well she knew, as they didn't threaten her, instead they cooed at Eevee. In Orre, she was usually challenged to battle when someone saw her with Eevee as Eevee's were highly looked upon in the Orre Region, mostly because the Orre Regions hero's, Wes and Michael, had both used Eevee's and their evolutions to defeat Cipher.

Honestly most thought she would become a Pikachu trainer instead of training an Eevee trainer as she had a close connection to Elder Eagun and his partner Pikachu. But Emma was focused on her work at the Poke fields and Eevee happened to always follow her around, after taking a liking to her. So after Eevee had followed her around some more, Emma began to try to connect to the Pokemon and became successful. A month later Eevee was captured into a Pokeball after agreeing to become Emma's starter.

Emma let a small grin grace her lips as she remembered her and Eevee's past. Their past wasn't an adventurous one or dramatic at all, rather being normal and in a comfort zone. But after visiting Justy, Emma had learned that once she actually became a trainer she would have to get out of her comfort zone and become more outgoing.

She felt a hint of annoyance when someone had, once again, bumped into her.

Meanwhile in the Pokemon Lab eleven newbie's were standing, waiting for their starters to be brought out from the back room. Prof. Oak stood with his back to the young children, frowning when he read the fine print on a piece of paper that was delivered to him. There weren't enough starters for each trainer as of right now and Violet, his hot headed assistant, didn't return yesterday to deliver the starter Pokemon to him.

He did get a call from her, right before her plane landed; saying that a girl named Emma Thorn was going to deliver the starters. He had heard of the girl before, from Prof. Krane in the Orre Region. She was the apprentice of Prof. Michael, Eagun, a Pre gym Leader, and a Unova Gym leader! This had immediately sparked his interest about the girl, more so when he learned about her dream to create Orre's first Pokemon League and Gyms. He knew she had to be a strong trainer but Prof. Michael had also informed him that she was still at a beginner level, as they had not trained her too much.

Behind him Gary, Prof. Oaks grandson, was trying to calm down the impatient children down. Well only three were impatient; a girl named Avery Porter, a boy named Ashton Crooks, and another boy named Seth Lennox.

Gary knew Avery very well as he saw her around Pallet Town and she was known for being a prankster, like her mother was when she was younger. He was sure that it ran in her family…but sadly Avery's mother had died along with her father from a fire that was caused by some thugs. The girl was now all grown up, ready for her first Pokemon. Despite the death of her parents, the 10 year old still kept her cheerful, energetic, headstrong attitude, but became a little more closed off.

Gary felt pity for the girl, but did not show it as he knew it would only anger the hot tempered girl. And right now he felt more aggravated than pitying towards the brat.

The young girl looked just like her mother with her red hair, almond shaped green eyes, and pale skin with a few freckles across the bridge of her nose. She wore a short sleeved peach colored sweater dress that reached her thighs, black leggings, black colored knee length boots, with black beaded bracelets on her left wrist, a cream colored messenger bag, and a necklace with a small orange diamond hanging from it.

Next to her was Ashton Crooks, the son of two Police officers. He was very outgoing boy but had a cocky attitude that reminded Gary of his younger self. Gary could see the boy picking out a Charmander as his parents both had fire type Pokemon as their partners on the force. Said boy was now begging him to go ahead and let them pick out their Pokemon but until that newbie from the Orre region arrived he wasn't allowed to let them pick their Pokemon out yet.

The boy had long spiky brown hair, hazel eyes, and tanned skin. He wore a black shirt, baggy black pants, a dark grey belt with pokeball hooks, a book bag colored black and grey, and grey running shoes, and a black cap with a white pokeball on it.

And next to Ashton was his brother in all but blood Seth Lennox, also the son of two Police officers. The boy was much shyer than Ashton and didn't really have a cocky attitude. Gary could see the boy becoming a great Pokemon trainer someday in the future.

He had long chin length black hair with long side bangs and the back sticking up slightly, darkly tanned skin, and dark brown eyes. He wore a red shirt, a necklace with a leaf charm, brown khaki pants, a grey jacket that was wrapped around his waist, a black belt, a red cap with a white Pokeball and was turned backwards allowing his hair to frame his face, red running shoes, and had a brown book bag.

These three as of right now were the bane of his existence, as they continued to complain loudly, that they should be able to get their Pokemon. _'Why couldn't they be like that one it the corner?' _He thought looking over at a girl, who stood at the back of the crowd, twiddling her pointer fingers together.

He had remembered reading this girls file. Her name was Rue Sumter, a shy girl who didn't like the spotlight, from what he could tell. Other than her file he didn't really know much of the girl but he could tell that Rue was very insecure by the way she held herself.

The girl had elbow length black hair that was pushed to left with her side bangs are bleached to a light brown, large green eyes, pale skin, and snake bites. She wore a purple jacket, a green tank top, black skinny jeans, and black converse boots with purple designs. He could tell that she was what some would call emo or gothic, though he thought the style fitted her perfectly.

The other children were watching in amusement or just standing around talking.

"You three please stop talking!" Gary shouted over them. Seeing each child wince and take a couple of steps back, he smirked in victory. "As of right now we don't have enough of you so that means you're going to have to wait."

"WHAT?!" The children screeched in disbelief.

"Man this sucks!" Ashton whined, slouching over with a defeated look.

Seth nodded his head in agreement and ran a hand through his hair. "Your right about that man." He turned to the Professor with a confused expression. "Um Professor why don't you have enough starters?" Seth asked.

"Yeah" Another kid asked haughtily.

Gary sighed. "I was just about to get to that before you all interrupted me. But the reason for that is because we had given some starters to three trainers a week ago."

Seth tilted his head. "But that was a week ago, wouldn't you have enough time to go and grab some more starters from where ever they are?"

"We did send an assistant to go get the starters, kid" Gary ignored the eye roll he got from Seth from being called kid. "She arrived today but it turns out she's sending another newbie trainer to deliver the starter Pokemon here."

Avery 'tched' loudly and placed her hands on her hips. "Well whoever it is needs to hurry the hell up!"

"I know right!" A girl complained loudly as her two friends began murmuring in agreement. She then turned to Avery. "It seems the idiot is finally right about something."

"IDIOT?" Avery yelled, making some wince at the volume. "Who are you calling an idiot ya little priss?!"

"Priss?!" Clarita yelled in shock. "You little-" But she was then cut off by Emma, who had just arrived.

"You're all so loud…" Emma said in an annoyed tone from behind them.

They all turned around or in Prof. Oak's and Gary's case looked up, to see a girl leaning on the door way.

"Who the heck are you?" Avery asked angrily, still mad at the girl named, Clarita, who was smirking at Avery's red face.

Emma held up her hands in surrender. "Whoa there girly" She said. "Just came here to see Prof. Oak."

Avery glared then faced the other way, pouting. "Humph"

Ashton glanced curiously at the new comer and found her to be pretty. Of course she wasn't overly pretty or anything, like that Clarita and her two friends, but rather plain looking if you ask him. But it wasn't the girls looks that got him interested in was Pokemon that rode on her shoulder. _'Maybe she's the newbie trainer that Prof. Gary was telling us about'_ Ashton then took another glance at Eevee and smiled happily. _'That Pokemon sure looks strong…she'll will make the perfect rival'_ He thought happily and felt even more determined to choose a Pokemon so he could challenge the stranger.

Gary was also interested in the girl, mostly because of her Eevee. He had to admit that was a fine looking Eevee that was riding on the child's shoulder. Looked to be well taken care of and well trained by the looks of its shiny eyes.

"Ah Emma" Prof. Oak spoke, opening his arms in a welcoming gesture to the girl. "I'm so glad to finally meet you in person. Prof. Krane and Prof. Michael has told me a lot about you"

She walked up to him with a grin making its way onto her face. "It's nice meeting you to Prof. Oak, truly an honor" She said and bowed her head as did her Eevee.

"Ev Eevee ve!" Eevee yipped, happily greeting the Professor. She wagged her tail, but was careful not to hit Emma in the head with it.

Gary walked over to Emma and began examining her Eevee. "My, my I never knew the trainer Violet sent over would be an Eevee trainer" He said, smirking at Emma. "It seems this is getting more interesting by the minute."

Emma stared at him. "What you like Eevee's?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yep, trained one myself and evolved it into an Umbreon."

"That's so cool!" Emma exclaimed, clasping her hands together, happy to meet another lover and trainer of Eevee. "How long did it take you to evolve him?" She asked curiously.

"Well," He started. "It did take a while, probably around a few months and I had to stay up late at night to gain the Umbreon." He sighed. "It was tough but worth it in the end."

She hummed. "Yeah I've heard it takes a long time to evolve an Eevee into Espeon or Umbreon." She then directed his attention to her belt loop where the dark moon shard glinted from the lights of the lab. "But I can think I can speed up the process anytime I want."

"That's a moon shard!" Oak whispered, mostly to himself.

She nodded. "Yep a guy at Machine Parts Shop in Gateon Port allowed me to choose which stone I wanted and I chose the moon shard." Eevee flicked her ear with her paw. "With Eevee's permission of course, right love?"

"Ve ve" She nodded.

Prof. Oak gave her an intrigued look and walked over, so he was standing in front of everyone. "He just gave it to you?"

She turned to him. "Yep he was a sailor that got to travel all over the world" She look up at the ceiling and got a dreamy look. "He used to tell me stories on how he came across the stones but," she looked back at Prof. Oak. "Then he said that he had plenty and told me that he shouldn't hog them all to himself, so he gave me one, for free too" She added.

"Sounds like a good man" Prof. Oak told her. "To give such rare stones away, in fact Moon shards are only known to be found in the Orre Region, along with the Sun shard."

"Really?" Gary questioned. Maybe on his next vacation, he should head to Orre and travel around.

Oak nodded. "Very rare stones, people would pay lots of money for that stone."

"Why?" Questioned Avery, who crossed her arms and sent Emma an annoyed look. "It's just a stone."

Oak shook his head. "This stone allows an Eevee to evolve faster into Espeon or Umbreon by growing stronger or by high friendship." He returned he gaze to Emma, who was fiddling with the moon shard in a loving manner. "And by the looks of your Eevee I should say, she should have already evolved into Umbreon, am I right?"

"Yep" She said. On her shoulder Eevee had puffed her chest out and had her nose in the air, feeling happy that the conversation was solely based on her.

Seth also became intrigued and stared at the Eevee. "Then why haven't you evolved him?"

Emma glanced out the corner of her eye to see Eevee's coat had fluffed up at the boys mistake. "Eevee…" Emma warned the angered Pokemon. She only had a low growl in return. "Vi"

"Um," Seth scratched the side of his head as he saw the Eevee glare at him while Emma stared at her as though it would stop the glare. "Did I say something wrong?"

Gary backed away from the small Pokemon, along with Prof. Oak, who dragged Seth and Ashton back a safe distance. "Yes you did, you called a she a he and it seems you have angered her." Gary told him.

"Hell hath no fury like a women scorned…" a boy muttered behind them, as he saw the Eevee growl at Seth.

"Oh! I'm so sorry I didn't know" He quickly apologized to Eevee. Eevee just glared at him once more before she faced the opposite way and wrapped herself around Emma's neck. Reflexively, Emma pulled her hood over her head covering Eevee, only allowing her face and paws to be seen on her left shoulder and the back legs and tail lying on her right.

Seth grimaced as the Pokemon had turned away from him but Emma quickly reassured him that Eevee would let it go in a little while. He smiled at her, making her face heat up. "Thanks and I hope she'll forgive me."

Eevee shifted under the hood and Emma gave Seth a reassuring smile, while trying to hide her pink tinted cheeks by lowering her head a bit. "I'm sure she will and besides," She took a small leather bag out of her messenger bag and held it towards Prof. Oak. "Mission accomplished" She said and mock saluted him.

Oak laughed then turned to the eleven trainers who were staring anxiously at the bag. "I think it's time for you all too finally choose your Pokemon."

Ashton, Seth, and Avery cheered loudly, while the others just smiled and nodded, following after Prof. Oak as he went into the back room. Emma on the other hand, turned on her heel and began walking away but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see Prof. Gary staring down at her.

He flashed her a smile. "Where do you think you're going?"

"Leaving" she said simply, pointing at the door.

Gary shook his head. "Maybe you should stay kid and watch the others pick out their Pokemon. Maybe one of them will travel with you"

"Sorry but I'm not looking for a traveling partner" She nodded her head towards Eevee. "Already have one."

Gary rolled his eyes. "I know that but come on, it wouldn't hurt would it. Besides my old man has something to give you remember?"

Emma felt her cheeks heat up. She had forgotten all about Prof. Oak's gift to her. She stood there for a few minutes before turning around to look at Prof. Gary. "I forgot all about that," She spoke truthfully, and then added. "I guess I got no other choice."

He clapped his hands together. "Good, then let's head on back shall we?" He did a gentlemen gesture for her to lead. She stared at him for a moment before nodding and walking towards the back room.

TBC…


	4. Chapter 4

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, only my own OC's.

Chapter 4

Emma stood a little ways from the other newbie trainers, having taken interest in Prof. Oak's research books on his book shelf. She examined them, but also listened in on what Prof. Oak was explaining to the other kids. Eevee had taken to ignoring everything and decided to take a small nap while they were at the lab.

"Alright now children, listen very closely" Prof. Oak said, staring at the eleven trainers to make sure they were listening. "Today you will receive your first Pokemon and thus begin your journey as a trainer and to try to find your path on what you want to do in life."

He clasped his hands behind his back. "I, for one, look forward to seeing each of you grow and develop through this experience. I'm sure you will all create happy memories and create strong bonds with both people and Pokemon, alike. Now without further ado, you may now choose which Pokemon you will take." He gestured toward the table. "But ladies first as always" He later added.

The boys groaned while the girls smiled and walked up to a long table that had 12 Pokeballs placed in a row and with the starter Pokemon standing in front of their respective ball. Clarita went first to pick her new partner and chose a Bulbasaur as her starter.

"Bulbasaur is your then, I see. A very easy Pokemon to raise" He said. "Are you sure you want him as your starter?"

Clarita nodded. "Of course I want him, he's such a cutie" She cooed at her new Pokemon, who purred happily at her affections. After capturing Bulbasaur in a Pokeball that Oak had given her, she went over to a table and began introducing herself to him.

Avery went next with a determined look on her face. She stared down each Pokemon, making them back away some in fright. "I choose…" She trailed off, before stopping in front of one Pokemon.

Oak watched intently as the girl went towards a Bulbasaur. The girl stared at the small Pokemon as he shyly looked away. Oak smiled as she reached out her hand and began stroking his ear, making him flinch for a moment before slowly relaxing. "I'll take him" She said, still rubbing his ear.

Clarita snorted. "Of course you would, copier!"

Avery glared. "I am not a copier Clarita, there are two Bulbasaur's left! Plus my choice doesn't even have anything to do with you, so bud out, will ya?"

Clarita narrowed her eyes before she turned away and resumed petting her Bulbasaur. "Whatever…"

Prof. Oak smiled and handed her a Pokeball. "Here you go and good luck to you and your starter"

Avery grinned at him, after she caught Bulbasaur and then walked over to a desk across the room, away from Clarita. She then released her new friend and placed him in her lap, petting his smooth skin.

Rosalie went next and picked out Squirtle, while her friend, Samantha, picked out a Charmander, then both girls headed over to Clarita and begin talking in hush tones about how their Pokemon were going to be so strong and giggled.

Then was Sophia and Layana's turn, both twins quickly chose their partners. Sophia had chosen Squirtle, while Layana chose the last Bulbasaur. Both girls then stood off to the side, holding their Pokemon in their arms chatting with each other as well as their new partners.

"Good choice girls" Prof. Gary commented, earning smiles from the twin girls.

"Rue" Prof. Oak called out to the girl, who starred off with a dazed look.

She blinked. "Huh?"

"It's time for you to pick your starter"

"Oh…" She blushed. "Of course, um…I choose Charmander…"

"Ah, a fine choice" Prof. Oak told her, as he watched the shy girl capture her Pokemon and release him from her ball. She let out a small squeak as the female Charmander climbed up her leg and up onto her shoulder. She let out a giggle as it nuzzled her cheek with its own.

Finally the boys came next, with Ashton and Seth already in the lead, holding the Pokeballs, ready to capture the Pokemon they had already set their heart on. While Ashton had chosen a Charmander, Seth had chosen Squirtle as his starter. The boys then grinned at each other and raced over to a wall and sat down. They then called out their Pokemon and started their introductions.

Alex and a boy named Chris went next, both walking up to the table calmly. Alex captured Squirtle, while Chris had captured Charmander. Then each boy went to separate sides of the room and sat down in a chair hold their pokemon.

After the choosing was over, Prof. Oak gave the children five minutes to get to know their Pokemon before calling them, to gather around and receive their next gifts. Emma had also joined the gathering as Prof. Oak ordered her to, saying this gift included her as well.

She stood in between Avery and Ashton, who for some reason kept giving her determined glances when they thought she wouldn't see, but she did and it kind of freaked her out. Was there something on her face or was it something else?

"Children, now that you have your Pokemon chosen you can now have a Pokédex, along with 5 Pokeballs each" Prof. Oak told them, then told Gary to hand out the items. Gary nodded and began handing out the items to the giddy trainers.

Though, Emma had starred at the gift before declining, saying she already had a PDA. Gary smirked. "We know that, didn't Prof. Krane give you a chip or anything?"

"Uh?" Was her only response.

Gary sighed. "He was supposed to…try and check your bag; he might have placed it in one of its pockets."

"Ok," She shrugged and began to look inside her bag. "Not here…no…that's not it…um…wait…here it is!" She brought out a small device and showed it to Prof. Gary. "Is this it?"

He nodded. "Yep now allow me to see your PDA please"

She pulled her PDA out from her pocket and handed it to Gary. He then walked over to a computer and began messing around with both devices, plugging them into the computer. "This might take a while, so why don't you get to know the other trainers" Gary told her, still fiddling with the devices.

She shrugged. "Why not" And turned around only to be faced with Ashton and Avery, who still starred at her with determined eyes.

"Fight me!" They shouted in perfect unison, then paused and turned to face each other.

"No way, I asked first!"

"Doesn't matter, ladies first remember!"

"Screw that!"

"Screw you!"

"Um…" Emma starred at the two looking back and forth as they fought, scratching the side of her head. She looked to Seth and mouthed _'Help me.'_

He chuckled, but shook his head, obviously not wanting to get into that fight with his friend and Avery.

The two continued fighting, for what seemed like forever, with their own Pokemon standing beside them watching and waiting for their trainers orders. Emma starred at the both of them in confusion before she sighed loudly. Maybe she should battle them both as they were newbies and she did have the upper advantage as a somewhat lowly experienced trainer. Though, Avery and Ashton seemed to be the types to get riled up easily, so that was a plus. Make them lose their cool and concentration, and then go in for the kill as Justy had always told her. And she was about to double battle, a style of battle that was dominate in Orre, more so than single battling.

She knew that she was tempting fate but went along with her plan. She snapped her fingers, gaining the attention of the two, along with Eevee. She starred at her trainers fingers with interest before yawning and raising her head, watching the scene with half lidded eyes.

"You both want to battle me right?" She asked them, smirking, and they nodded quickly. "Then how about I battle you both?"

They stared at her for a moment before going into a fit of laughter.

"F-fight you together?" Ashton laughed loudly.

Avery giggled, taking it as a joke. "That's funny"

"What's so funny?" Emma asked, frowning and narrowing her eyes.

"You think you can take on us both?" Ashton asked cockily, his laughter slowly going away. "You'll surely lose."

"I have to agree with Ashton on this." Seth said. "Emma you should really choose your words carefully"

She smiled. "What don't think I can win?"

"Sweetie, I know for sure you won't win." Clarita chimed walking over to them with her friends. She looked at Ashton and sighed dreamily. "Ashton is too strong for you."

"Clarita's right, you can't win" Samantha said, crossing her arms and gave her a know-it-all-look.

Emma felt angered that these people thought of her as so weak. Seriously, did she look weak or something? Eevee seemed to have thought the same thing as she jumped off Emma's shoulders and stood beside her right leg, with her hackles raised and growled threateningly at them.

Avery took a couple of steps back before she stopped and took a deep breathe. She then stood up straight, standing her ground. "Fine, you want a double battle then you got one!" She shouted out, pointing at Emma. Her gaze never wavered_. 'If I don't have the guts to battle her, then how will I battle someone else?'_

Ashton starred at Avery for a moment before he smirked and nodded. "The redhead is right, besides two against one? We all know how that's going end."

"REDHEAD?!" Avery shrieked angrily but was ignored.

Emma hummed, and then smiled. "Do we really?"

"Only one way to find out, Bulbasaur I choose you!" Avery yelled, as her Pokemon walked in front of her and got in a sloppy looking defense stance.

Ashton grinned. "You too Charmander!"

"Char Charmander char!" The flame Pokemon cheered and ran in front of Ashton. His defense was less sloppy that the Bulbasaur's but still sloppy none the less. The small Pokemon then struck a small pose, doing a fist pump in the air.

Emma grinned as she felt a sudden rush run through her. "Alright then, Eevee how about we show them whose boss around here?"

"Ev Eevee!" Eevee nodded and took her own defense stance by spreading her back legs slightly apart and bending her front legs, getting in a crouched position. She flicked her ears back. "Ve ve!" She yipped out, showing she was ready for battle.

"You guys go first" She called to them.

Ashton smirked. "You're going to regret that!"

"Charmander tackle!"

"Bulbasaur, use tackle as well!" Avery copied.

"Eevee dodge by using quick attack!" Emma yelled, as she saw the two Pokémon charging towards Eevee.

"Eevee!" She yipped and jumped out of the way for every attack, at quick speeds. Noticing that Charmander was slowly getting beside her, she hopped over him and landed away from the two, sliding slightly on the smooth floor.

Charmander growled and charged again, by his trainer's orders, blindly running towards Eevee on four feet. Bulbasaur, meanwhile, was charging at a slower speed, probably to catch Eevee of guard by a sneak attack when she dodged.

"Eevee lets show them how we do it in Orre!" Emma yelled, wanting the battle to go ahead and end so that they would know not to doubt her again.

Eevee nodded and growled loudly, causing the Pokemon to stop in their tracks and freeze. "Eevee tail whip!" She ran towards them and slapped them both with her tail, sending them tumbling back, snapping them out of their daze.

Avery stood gaping. "What the?-"

"How?" Ashton questioned, watching the Pokemon stand up, shaking their heads as if they were dazed.

"Growl and Tail Whip, a good combination of the two" Oak commented loudly.

Emma grinned. "Thanks Professor and now Eevee QUICK ATTACK!"

"Ve" She growled and launched herself at the two Pokemon, who were still in a daze. She traveled quickly towards them and knocked the Bulbasaur on its back, while knocking the Charmander into a wall, ramming into him with her side. Both were knocked out with swirly eyes, a sign that they couldn't continue.

"No…Bulbasaur!" Avery cried, racing over to her unconscious friend.

"Charmander…lost? But how?" Ashton questioned himself, as he kneeled beside his Pokemon and returned it to its ball for a rest.

"Because I have more experience than you, though it may not be much but it seems to make a difference" Emma informed them. "Plus I have been with Eevee since I was 7 years old and have been training since then." She added.

"I see…" Seth murmured softly, as he watched Emma collect her winnings from the two and return back to her spot. "You already had a Pokemon at a young age; it's no wonder why you won."

"Plus, the Orre regions specialty is double battling" Prof. Oak said. "Single battling is seen as not very challenging so they began double battling to make a trainer better at commanding its Pokemon quickly."

"So single battling isn't allowed in that region?" Ashton asked, staring down at his Charmander's Pokeball.

Emma shook her head, as she picked up Eevee and placed her back on her shoulders. "Single battling is allowed, though, it's rare to see anyone battle in that style."

"So you cheated!" Avery accused. "You knew you were more experienced than us but you still agreed to the challenge!"

Emma glared. "I am not a cheater and you two were the ones demanding for a battle! Don't be such a sore loser!"

"I am not a sore loser!" Avery growled, holding Bulbasaur close to her chest.

"You're sure acting like it" Emma said, glaring. "Besides you two just went ahead and challenged me, and I don't back away from any challenge."

"Even against someone weaker than you?" Avery questioned.

"Please, it was two against one. Didn't Ashton say everyone knew the outcome of that battle?" Emma told her, placing her hands on her hips.

Ashton looked at her. "I did say that but…" He looked away before shaking his head and walked up to Emma holding his hand out. "We lost and you won. It was a great battle Emma." He said and gave her a toothy grin.

She stared at his hand for a moment, and then slowly wrapped hers around it. "Thanks and it was a good battle, right Eevee?"

"Ve ev!" She agreed with the nod of her head.

"What a battle!" Gary said. "Good job Emma, using quick attack for defense and offence."

"Thanks Professor" She spoke sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head. "Is my Pokédex and PDA finished?" She asked.

He nodded. "Yep, now every Pokemon you gain data on will be transferred to the device you didn't use, so you won't waste time trying to collect data for the both of them."

"Cool" She happily accepted her PDA and Pokédex, slipping the Pokédex in her bag while putting the PDA in her pocket. "Thanks Prof. Gary"

"You're welcome Emma" He said, smiling.

After putting the two devices in their respective places, she looked up to Prof. Gary. "Uh, Professor does pallet town have any hotels or inns I could stay at?"

His brows furrowed. "I'm afraid not, this poses to be a problem…"

"Uh, Professor," A small voice spoke up. They both turned to see Rue standing beside them. "She could stay at my house, I mean…if she wants to."

He thought for a moment. "Would your mom allow it?"

She nodded shyly. "Of course, besides we have an extra bedroom we don't use…"

Emma looked at her. "Are you sure, I don't want to be a burd-"She stopped before she said _that_ word. She didn't want to be a _burden _to anyone, and to do that she had to grow stronger, both her and her Pokemon. She shook her head. "I don't know…" She rubbed her shoulder and looked away from Rue's hurt expression.

"Oh…ok…um, well there is a lady named Miss. Laura, whose allowing a room to be rented." She told her, before leaving.

Emma sighed as she watched the girl leave. She felt guilty for what she had done but still, being a burden wasn't going to help anyone. If she kept relying on everyone, then how will she get anywhere?

She also went to leave before Gary stopped her by placing a hand on her shoulder. They were now alone in the lab as the other trainers had left for home or to go ahead and start their journey, and Prof. Oak had left to go finish up some paper work.

"You know Emma; getting help isn't a bad thing." He told her.

"But being a _burden_ is" She spat out the word _burden_. Gary looked down at her and sighed.

"Emma, you're not a burden. A burden is someone who causes trouble, and you don't seem like the type."

She looked away from him. "I do cause trouble" She said, remembering the Rocket grunt she had battled. She wondered what he was doing right now. Probably sitting in a jail cell in Pyrite Town, with those two officers watching him.

"Listen, you aren't a burden no matter what you think and you should go ahead and leave to Miss. Laura's house. I think a storm is on its way." He told her and she nodded, starring out the window, seeing the dark clouds drawing nearer by the second.

With a goodbye from her she turned on her heel and left, walking out the lab at a steady pace. She walked down the long dirt roads, which seemed almost endless to her. She released a long sigh and tilted her head back, staring at the blue sky that was slowly tinting into a dark color.

She watched as the clouds blew by slowly, never changing their speed. She wished to be one of those clouds. To feel freedom and unchained from everything, but a memory flashed in the back of her mind. It was a memory of her and Prof. Michael, when they were lying in the Poke Fields, cloud watching. She was around eight then and she remembered how she commented on the same thing to the Professor. After hearing the comment the Professor was silent before he said, _"Even the clouds are bound, as we all are Emma."_

He was right in a way as the clouds flowed never endingly. Taken away by the wind, fusing together or ripping apart, when a wind forced its way through the cloud.

She shook her head getting rid of the memory of her old home. She then focused on the road ahead to see that there were three roads heading in different directions. She read the signs, feeling lost on where she was supposed to be. Emma looked all around before slouching over in a defeated position. She cursed herself silently as she never got the address from that Rue girl.

Eevee sat comfortably on her shoulder, also staring down the roads. The small Pokemon figured its trainer needed help so it began sniffing the air for scents. Many smells surrounded where they were, the smell of the forest was the strongest, but the small human scents were there, too, lingering around the area.

Emma looked at her partner, out of the corner of her eye and smirked. She had totally forgotten that Eevee was able to track. Seeing her rabbit-like ears twitch every second made her sure that Eevee was slowly beginning to breathe in a scent. Hopefully that Rue girl's scent. Emma could really use that room right now as she was a little lost and didn't want to get caught up in the rain.

After Eevee sniffed for a few more moments before she let out a loud 'Ve' Signaling that she had found a scent that she has come across before, most likely one of the eleven trainers from earlier. She then jumped off Emma's shoulder and walked in front of her, and Emma followed after her Pokemon.


	5. Chapter 5

I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters, I only own my Oc's.

Chapter 5

The sky had become darker when they arrived at a small comfortable looking house. It was painted white with black shutters and a porch that was wrapped around the house. A few bird Pokemon had taken to sitting in the large trees that were spread out in the yard. Emma was itching to catch one but refrained from doing so.

She looked down at Eevee to see her small Pokemon was still staring at the house, though, Emma could see the slight difference in her Pokemon. Eevee was tired as her eyes would slowly close and then in a flash they were back open. Emma shook her head and pick Eevee up, holding her in her arms.

She walked up to the house and knocked on its door. She waited, for a few minutes and as she waited, she slowly rocked Eevee, lulling her to sleep slowly. She smiled when Eevee snuggled against her.

The door finally opened by a woman with short black hair that was curled outwards at the end, black eyes, and pale skin. She wore a long red dress with an apron covering it. Emma guessed she was baking something as her apron had flour, along with other stains on it.

The women gave her a confused look. "Um, how may I help you?"

Emma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Sorry to bother you but I was wondering if you knew which way Miss. Laura's house was. I'm kinda lost and need directions."

"Oh it's okay sweetie but may I ask why you're heading to her home?" The women asked.

"Oh, I'm a Pokemon trainer or a newbie, at least" Emma replied.

The women clapped her hands together. "I see now and how surprising my daughter is also starting her Pokemon journey but chose to start it tomorrow so she could bond with her Pokemon"

"Really? Who's your daughter?" Emma questioned.

"Her names Rue" She answered. "She's a shy little thing, but seeing her with that Charmander—or Charm— as she calls her; it seems to really build up her confidence."

Emma looked down at Eevee. "Pokemon do that to you"

The mother hummed softly, almost soothingly, making Emma remember when her mother did the same thing long ago. "They do, don't they…" She trailed off before shaking her head. "Anyway, we have an extra bedroom if you need to stay for the night."

Emma shook her head. "No thank you, I wouldn't want to be a burden to you and your family Miss.?"

"Sumter, Mrs. Sumter" Mrs. Sumter said, smiling. "And I'm sure you won't be a burden but I won't press the issue."

"Thank you" Emma thanked, great fully. She didn't feel like having the matter pressed further.

Miss. Sumter nodded. "You're welcome and Miss. Laura's house is three houses down from us, near the forest."

Emma smiled. "Thank you very much" She waved goodbye and ran off the porch, heading down the dirt road towards a much larger house, that sat near the edges of the woods that lead off to Route 1. Emma was great full for that.

She walked up the steps and knocked three times. She waited once more, rocking on the balls of her feet, humming a small tune her mother used to sing her as a lullaby. It was a lullaby that she also used to get Eevee to sleep, after she had just caught her. Eevee always seemed to like the sound of slow, soothing music. Though at times, she liked to listen to upbeat music.

Finally someone opened a door, a woman with long mid-back length brown hair that was pulled back in a French braid with her bangs framing her face, light green eyes, and pale skin. She wore a light purple blouse, a long knee length purple skirt, and heels.

"May I help you?" She asked, giving Emma a calculating stare as if trying to figure her out.

"Yes, I heard you were renting a room" Emma explained. "And I was wondering if I could use it for the night"

She blinked before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh, of course come in" The women quickly ushered Emma in and walked her to the kitchen were a lovely aroma was coming from.

Emma was slowly relaxing as the women still had her hand on her back, leading her to were the kitchen was. Emma breathed deeply when they entered, something Miss. Laura didn't miss.

"Are you hungry?" She asked, sitting Emma down in one of the chairs at an island counter top. "I just got done cooking mash potatoes, green beans, and some beef stew."

Emma felt her mouth water and she nodded, watching Miss. Laura move around the kitchen.

In her arms, Eevee began to stir as she breathed the beautiful aroma of food in. Her ear twitched, as her stomach growled loudly. Emma looked down in surprise as Eevee's ear kept twitching until she yawned loudly and stretched.

"Vi?" Eevee asked in the Pokemon Language. She stared up at Emma, but was then distracted by her nose that twitched constantly as new scents were picked up. Hearing a light click, she looked up to see a plate full of warm food. Eevee's eyes glistened as she breathed in the food's delicious scent.

Seeing her expression, Emma took a few napkins and used her spoon to pick up two large pieces of meat and place them on the napkin, along with a piece of carrot. Normally Emma would never allow Eevee to have a lot of greasy, fat foods but she did allow her to have it sometimes.

Eevee began chomping down immediately as the meat was placed in front of her, not touching the carrot. Emma and Eevee both disliked carrots, as it was a disgusting _healthy_ food. That was something her mother couldn't stand, both her daughter and her Pokemon both disliking the same thing.

Emma had also started eating as well. The food was fantastic! Her tasted buds were filled with flavor, which made her want to cry. It had been so long since she actually sat down at a table and ate a home cooked meal.

After dinner, Miss. Laura had told her that she should go ahead and shower. Emma had wanted to help with the mess her and Eevee had left behind but the women just shook her head and pointed for Emma to head up stairs to the room she rented. Emma reluctantly went up, carrying a satisfied Eevee in her arms.

She took her time bathing in a large round tub, with Eevee swimming around her in circles. The bathroom was pretty, with cream colored walls, white tiled floors, and a sink with a marble counter.

She laid back against the side of the tub and closed her eyes, sliding neck deep into the water. She could hear the sound that came from Eevee splashing around, happily but a little lazily in the water. She was glad Eevee was adjusting fine to the change and was having a great time. Emma was having a good time as well though she felt a little dread when she thought of her family back in Orre.

She wondered how they were doing. Was Prof. Michael close to a lead on Team Rocket? She pondered if she should actually call her three, so called brothers in Pyrite Town. She knew if she did, then they would chew her out for not calling them as soon as she left.

Maybe she should, besides they are the only source in the Orre region she could actually trust. Reaching toward her pants, which laid beside the tub, she pulled out her PDA and quickly made a call. She then placed it on speaker and placed it on a dry part of the outside of the tub.

The device made a soft, metallic ringing sound before it was replaced with a small click and voices filled the silence in the room.

"Hello?" A boyish voice called out, his voice echoed through the room.

"Hey Cyril, missed me?" She asked in a teasing tone, as she grabbed Eevee and began massaging her back and scalp with strawberry scented shampoo. Eevee purred loudly at the action and leaned into her touch, happily.

"Emma?!" He exclaimed loudly, making her glad it wasn't closer to her ear.

"That's me" She said with a smile and giggled has Eevee's fur on her forehead kept getting her eyes. She sighed. "Someone needs another hair cut" She cooed to Eevee, who nodded, shaking her head in an attempt to get the hair out of her eyes.

"What?" Cyril asked over the phone.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Just giving Eevee a bath and possibly a haircut next"

"Awww poor Eevee being blind by her own hair" He teased, making Eevee puff her cheeks out and turn from the phone. He then spoke. "Hey Emma, what's your deal with not phoning your big brothers goodbye before you actually left?"

She bit her lip. "Well, some things happened an-"

"And you can't and are not allowed to tell me" He finished.

"Yeah" She sighed, and began rising and drying off herself and Eevee.

"Well," He drawled "It's a good thing I already know what actually happened"

She blinked. "What? But, how?"

He snorted. "Please, it's called eavesdropping, besides the walls in Duking's house are not as thick as the grownups wish they could be."

She laughed. "And I thought Noel was the spy of the group"

"He is but he gotta do what you gotta do, right?"

"You got that right" She muttered, as she got dressed and sat on the end of her bed.

"Anyway, you want to hear some juicy details I got?"

"Yes" She answered back instantly, almost as if he wouldn't tell her. Which he would, because he loved sharing the information that he discovered. _'Show off'_ She thought.

"Well you know that grunt you battled a few days ago? Well it turns out that he'd rather stay in the Police station than get out, so he's withholding information from, the Chief of Police, Prof. Michael, and Duking."

Emma's brows furrowed in confusion. "Why would he do something like that? Do you think he has a strong loyalty towards Team Rocket?"

"No," Cyril stated. "In fact he said they might be looking for him right now." He paused.

"So, is that a good thing or a bad thing?" She hesitantly asked, stroking Eevee's fur.

"To kill him" He said.

"Ok that's deafeningly a bad thing," She said in a worried tone. "Why kill him?"

Cyril sighed softly, and shifted from the sound of it. Emma could hear some music playing in the background but it was too muffled to understand the lyrics to it. "There are a lot of theories going between the three, but the strongest being that he brought out the Shadow Pokemon before the leader wanted him to, so now they want to punish him."

She stared at the ground, mulling over the information. "So their making their move soon?"

"That's what the Professor said" He replied back to her in a lower tone than before. "Hey Emma I think the others are back…"

"Back, where did they go?" She rubbed her head as she asked, as a headache began form.

"Noel and Ivan?" He stopped for a minute, as if thinking before saying. "They went out to check around The Under. We really don't need any creeps using it for hideouts anymore."

She couldn't help but agree. "What about you, taking a day off?"

"I wish but duty calls, when it calls you know"

"Sure"

"Anyway Emma, if you don't want to get chewed out by the guys I'm gonna go ahead and hang up. See ya later" He whispered and clicked the end button.

She listened to the constant beeping for a second-that felt as if it was hours- and just stared down at her PDA. She wondered if the grunt was telling the truth. What Team Rocket really after him or was he just trying to give the Professor and everyone a fright? She hoped it was the latter.

R&R


	6. Chapter 6

I do not own Pokemon or its characters, I only own my OC's

Chapter 6

The next morning Emma woke up bright and early, just like she planned. The clock on the small wooden nightstand beside her trilled loudly making her ears hurt. Eevee growled at the clock in hopes of it shutting up but to no avail. A half an hour later when Emma was dress and ready to go she found Eevee licking her paws innocently as a torn apart clock had its remains scattered everywhere.

Emma glanced between Eevee and the clock. "You know Eevee, Miss. Laura is not going to be happy about that"

It gave her a look that she knew all too well before Eevee jumped on her shoulder. Eevee was very competitive, never backing down from a challenge even if it is against an inanimate object, like the clock for example. This was mainly how Emma got into battles even when she didn't want to. If something provoked Eevee or made a challenge, accidently or not, Eevee will try and provoke its own attack to challenge the one it sees as a foe.

Usually Eevee were supposed to be cheerful, energetic, Naïve, playful, and friendly and Eevee was all those things but it could also act more mature when the situation called for it, like during a battle. In battle Eevee loved to taunt her opponents and held a serious attitude, while outside of battle she was playful and loving.

She remembered when Prof. Micheal had just begin teacher her about Eevee's after hers had hatched. He informed her that they were very hard to train because of their energetic nature and he was right, Eevee was hard to train because it always wanted to battle, which lead to Emma becoming a trainer. Of course the Pre Gym Leader also talked her into being a trainer and always encouraged her on her dreams.

Eevee was weak but it yearned to grow stronger. Emma could see it in her eyes when Eevee first witnessed a battle. The small Pokemon was in awe as she watched the battle between Prof. Michael and Jovi, the Phenac Colosseum champion. Prof. Michael won and Jovi, his sister, lost.

After that Eevee would always make Emma follow it to a clearing where they began training together. No one knew of the clearing but them since it was past the Poke Fields and deeper into the lush forest, almost too where the grass and sand meet.

As she made her way down the stairs, she wondered about her conversation last night. She humphed, ignoring the looks she gained from both Eevee and Miss. Laura who was fixing breakfast for her.

A hand was placed on her shoulder "Emma stop thinking so hard" Miss. Laura said in a motherly tone that made Emma feel home sick.

"Yes ma'am" She didn't look at Miss. Laura when she said it, rather looking down at her plate of scrambled eggs and bacon, along with some toast and hash browns that Miss. Laura had placed in front of her. She picked at her food but made sure Eevee didn't get any but her three pieces of bacon. Too much greasy foods made Eevee sick and slow in battle, something that Emma didn't want.

She ate her food slowly and well manneredly as Miss. Laura seemed like the type to want well-mannered people living in her house, even though she only stayed for a night. She took a deep breath as she began finishing off her food and placed her fork down, the utensil making a soft clink on the marble countertop.

She then removed her wallet from her bag and took 200 dollars from it and handed it to the women. "Thank you for allowing me to stay Miss. Laura"

The women smiled. "It was a pleasure Emma and please if you ever come back to Pallet Town just come back here. You're welcomed anytime."

Emma smiled widely. "I'll keep that in mind Miss. Laura."

She nodded, as she watched the young girl start down the dirt road to the forest. She walked on the edge of her steps and began waving. "Take care Emma! And don't get into any trouble!"

Emma laughed and waved back. "I promise, bye!"

Hearing Miss. Laura reply a goodbye of her own, Emma turned her attention on the road ahead of her. Excitement rushed through her as she knew she could finally begin her journey. She giggled to herself, and smiled down at Eevee, who gave her a small grin in return.

Emma had been waiting for this moment ever since she was 7 and now it was finally happening. Thought of Orre and everything else began to drift away as she observed the forest around her, enjoying its scenery. She felt peaceful, and it was even better as her stomach pains were less painful and the bruise coloring had begun to lighten up some more. She placed her hand on her stomach and rubbed it in a circular motion, sighing softly. She hoped that they would go away soon; she really didn't want to explain to people on why there were bad bruises on her stomach area. Mostly they'll think she was probably abused or something, everyone always jumped to conclusions when they saw something like that on a kid.

She tugged her vest down, smoothing it out so that her stomach would in no why be seen. The bruises should be gone in a few days, so all she had to do was wait. She wasn't taking the pain pills either as her nurse gave her an option of using them, and Emma immediately shot down using the pills. She was never happy when she had to take pills as Cyril always joked about her being a druggie when he saw her taking them. Of course, he was joking but it wasn't just that. Emma didn't feel the need to take the pills as her stubborn attitude made her believe she could go without them.

Eevee was also graced with a stubborn attitude, especially when it came to battling. Even though Prof. Michael had only allowed her to battle a few times, both double and single. He didn't want her growing too strong before she went on her journey, saying it wouldn't be as challenging or as fun. But what he didn't know was that when her and her brothers used to sneak her into the under, they would also battle her. Cyril with his female Vulpix, Ivan with his male Electrike, and Noel with his male Absol, but now Vulpix and Electrike were fully evolved. She remembered when they asked why she hadn't evolved Eevee and she just replied that the time wasn't right.

And it wasn't, since Eevee wasn't ready to evolve as it showed by stopping its evolution. Eevee was also, somewhat, a mystery to Emma, but she had come to think Eevee wanted to grow stronger in her natural form, rather than evolving to help it power up. She had voiced this out sometime ago and Eevee nodded her head enthusiastically, puffing out her chest. So after that, Emma promised to never try and force Eevee or any future Pokemon she caught to forcibly evolve. It was their life and they should be able to choose if they want to take a big step and change into its next evolutionary form.

Emma walked down the dirt road, and kicked a rock, sending it rolling and bouncing down the road before landing in a patch of grass. She stuffed her hands in her tight jean shorts pocket, and looked down to Eevee.

The little ball of fluff followed her faithfully, trotting beside her. She was looking around, eyes glistening and wide with wonder as she drank in all the sights the forest had to offer. Her ears twitched slightly as a warm breeze blew passed them ruffling her thick coat. She shook her head, her bangs swaying, and blinked.

She dug her claws into the ground as she and her trainer carried on down the road, listening to the peaceful sounds of its occupants. Pidgey's tweeted nearby making Eevee stop and lift her ears up to get a better hearing. By the sound of it the Pokemon should have been close by, but it wasn't a natural call of a Pokemon. More of a crying sound.

"Huh?" Emma looked down to Eevee, who was furiously tugging on her shoes, in a direction that was to their right. She sent her a questioning glance but before Emma could make a sound, Eevee took off, running into the forest.

"Eevee!" Emma called, chasing after her. It wasn't as easy as it sounded, trying to follow such a small Pokemon through such thick brush. Emma rushed after her, trying to keep up with her.

Finally Eevee had stopped, but by a semi-large river that had a strong current. Eevee starred down at Eevee to her gaze was pointed to where the river was located. Looking up, Emma gasped as she saw a small Pidgey, probably a baby, sitting on a large rock, tweeting softly, weakly. She looked around to see if any other Pidgey were around but she found none.

She wondered where its parents were and why weren't they helping it. Shaking her head, she rushed over to the river and stopped at the edge. She looked down at Eevee.

"Eevee, I need you to stay here okay"

Eevee nodded determinedly, and returned her stare to the small Pokemon sitting on the rock, stranded and alone.

Emma through her messenger bag on the ground, and then jumped in feet first into the warm water that went up to her waist, and was quickly pushed sideways as the current angrily collided against her. She winced as her bruises began to burn from the pressure the current was placing on them. She ignored the growing pain by biting her lip and digging her feet in the soft soil that sunk and dispersed with each step she took.

She was half way there, when the Pidgey noticed her. It stared at her with eyes filled with fear, and began to flap its small wings furiously. Emma noticed how drenched its wings were and knew even if it was old enough to fly the small bird wouldn't be able to. But it continued to flap them, sending droplets flying everywhere but with a strong splash the current sent water flooding the rock. Thankfully the Pidgey was still on the rock as the water ran down off the rock, but it was now lying down, weakened considerably by the water.

She struggled to rock as fast as she could, but the rushing water made it hard. Her stomach was also beginning to hurt worse as she got closer to the rock. She just prayed that she could hurry up and get the bird and get out of the water.

After more struggling, she finally made it to the rock. Her hands gripped the edge of the rock and pulled her body forward, so that she was up against the rock. She took slow deep breaths, hunching over the rock as well as the small Pidgey. Despite the water being low to her waist, it was still had a powerful current that pushed against Emma, as though it wanting to sweep her away.

After taking a couple of breaths, she squinted her eyes, looking down at the baby Pidgey. It was cowering away from her, curled up shaking violently from fear. Emma began to coo at the small creature as she picked it up in her hands and held it close to her chest. She quickly made her way back to the shore, where she laid down on the soft soil, with the Pidgey still shaking on her chest even though she wasn't holding it anymore.

Eevee rushed over to them, and quickly began speaking to the baby Pidgey in their own language. The Pidgey shakily tweeted back, its voice weak. Eevee then pulled the small Pokemon on the ground and sat close next to it, using her fur to warm up the baby. The Pidgey was hesitant at first, but then slowly relaxed in Eevee's fur coat and nuzzled against her.

Emma huffed, before she leaned up from the ground and sat crisscross. Seeing Eevee snuggled up against the small baby bird, Emma reached over for her bag and grabbed it, pulling it over to her. She grabbed a towel out of it, and picked the small bird up. As soon as she picked it up, it began to tweet loudly, flapping its wings, and tweeted weakly.

"It's alright," She cooed softly, as she placed it in her lap and began to rub the towel against it. Eevee had also helped with calming it down as she sat in front of Emma and was talking to the Pidgey, with it tweeting softly in reply.

After a few minutes, Pidgey had fully relaxed in Emma's grip as she finished drying off the rest of her feathers. After she was done drying it off, she placed it on the ground. The small bird shook its body, fluffing its feathers up. It then began to stumble around, making Eevee chase after it, trying to keep it up right. Emma smiled as the Pokemon had Eevee chasing after it, making loud sounds every time the Pidgey almost fell.

Emma shook her head at the two and pulled out a jar full of Poké Snacks. Poke Snacks were what looked like yellow slices of cake that trainers back in Orre would place down on Poké Spots, where trainers would catch some of the few Pokemon that could survive in its harsh terrain. Wild Pokemon were attracted to the food because of its scent and mouthwatering taste.

She opened the jar and took two pieces of the snacks and placed them on the dry part of the towel that had just been used. Its smell spread as a breeze blew past, spreading its scent throughout the air. Eevee and Pidgey even stopped playing around and paused to sniff the air.

"VI!" Eevee yipped happily and ran over to the towel, sniffing the snack before she began to devour it. Behind her, Pidgey hesitantly inched near the food that was near Emma.

Emma picked off a small piece of the snack and reached her hand out to the Pidgey. "Here you go"

Pidgey eyed her hand, before it stretched its neck and bit into the snack. It smacked its beak together, and tweeted loudly as it came closer, eating as fast as it could. Emma laughed as it quickly finished up the crumbs in her hand and began looking around for more. She laughed again and picked it up, placing the Pidgey near a larger piece of the snack. Its eyes lit up happily, and it quickly began to gobble down the food, that the nice human had laid out.

Seeing it distracted, she pulled out her Pokédex and had it analyze the small bird. "Pidgey is the flying Pokemon, among all flying Pokemon it is the gentlest and does not like to fight. It hides in tall grass and so on, foraging for food such as small bugs." She then pressed another button. "This Pidgey is a male and its known moves are tackle."

Emma hummed and placed the Pokédex in her pocket, trading it out with her PDA, which she place in her bag. She then looked down at Pidgey to see it nipping at its wing feathers, already finished with his food.

"Pidgey?" Emma called out its name, allowing the word to roll of her tongue.

Pidgey looked up at her and cocked its head to the side curiously. It stared at her with its wide eyes, and slowly analyzed her. She didn't look like a bad person, like those who had tried to hurt him and his family. He scratched at the ground in irritation, just thinking about those people. "Pi pi pi piiii!"

Emma leaned back some. "You're a feisty little thing, aren't you?"

Pidgey puffed out his chest. "Pi Pi!"

She giggled and scratched underneath his neck. "You're a cutie to"

"Pi?" He starred at her wide eyed before huffing indignantly. "Pi Pi Pidgey!"

"Uh?" Emma blinked.

"Vi…" Eevee sighed, and walked over to them. She then climbed up Emma's shoulder and curled around her neck.

Emma snapped her fingers. "That's right you're a male!"

Pidgey fell over anime style but quickly got up and nodded its head furiously. "Pi Pidgey!"

"Okay then that makes you a very handsome Pidgey" She said, rubbing his throat, electing a trilling purr from him.

"Pidgey!" He tweeted happily, nodding.

She gave him an eye smile. "Hey Pidgey, why don't you travel with me and Eevee?"

"Pidgey?" It sent her a questioning look, looking between her and Eevee, who gave a him a smile.

"Yeah, I mean if you want to. I won't try and catch you if you don't want to." She told him quickly. "Besides you look pretty young to be on your own. How about Eevee and I take you back to your family?"

"Pi?" He tweeted, then nodded and flapped its wings, but ended up falling back. Emma giggled as the small bird struggled to get up and shook her head.

"Here," She picked him up and placed him on her shoulder. She then grabbed her bag, placing around her shoulder, making sure to not to hurt Eevee or Pidgey with it.

"Okay Pidgey, which way do we go?" She asked him, staring at him out of the corner of her eye.

He cocked his head. "Pi? Pidgey pi pi!" He tweeted loudly, pointing his wing in a direction that led deeper into the forest. She nodded and began to walk down the path Pidgey showed her, turning where ever she needed to go.

As they moved, they began to hear tweeting in the distance. Pidgey tweeted back in excitement, flapping his wings wildly.

Emma grinned. "Hey Pidgey is they your family?"

He nodded. "Pi!"

Emma walked through a clearing, that had few large trees in it, but she gasped when she saw the large tree in the middle of the field. The tree was large and looked beautiful as the sun beamed its rays of sunshine through its branches. The tree was also swarming around with Pidgey of all sizes.

Emma's eyes widened. "Wow…"

She stepped out from behind the tree and began to slowly walk into the clearing. But that didn't seem like a good idea when she accidently step on a twig, sending a loud snapping sound echoing in the clearing. Every Pidgey's head turned towards her, with an angry glint in their eyes.

Emma eyes widened in panic and she stumbled back. "Why are they staring at me like that?"

"Eev Eevee!" Eevee yipped loudly, trying to explain to the bird Pokemon.

The Pidgey all trilled angrily, still advancing towards. They all glared at the human who dared to tread on their territory. Plus this one was a trainer and would probably try and catch one of them. With that though the Pidgey trilled even louder, and started to fly around Emma.

"Stop, Stop!" She cried. "I only came here to give Pidgey back!"

She took Pidgey off her shoulder and held in out in front of her where the other bird Pokemon could see. Their advancements halted after seeing the tiny Pidgey within her hands that tweeted loudly at them to stop. Emma then placed the small Pidgey down and watched as it ran under all the flying Pidgey, straight to two larger Pidgey. The two larger ones wrapped the little one up in their wings and trilled happily to it.

The small Pidgey began to nuzzle into-what Emma assumed-its parents chests. She smiled at the small scene but the loud trill of the largest Pidgey, probably the leader, snapped her attention back to her. He examined her with a piercing gaze as he floated around her, flapping his wings a few times. The others waited and watched as their leader began examining the human child.

The Pidgey stared at her for a few more minutes, then threw his head back and let out a loud trill. After that he flew off back towards the tree, along with the other bird Pokemon. Emma released a puff of breath she had been holding in.

She fell back on her bottom and released a long sigh. Her shoulders slouched, as she hunched over with her hand on her forehead. "Jeez, I thought I was done for"

"Ve ev" Eevee yipped, rolling off her shoulder and landing on the ground, in a crouched position. She then shook her mane and yawned.

Emma stared down at her then looked up at the sky, to see the sun already in the middle of it, signaling that is was afternoon time already. Emma gasped. "Did we really take that long to find Pidgey's home?"

"Vi Eevee ev" Eevee replied, wagging her tail.

Emma sighed. "Well come on Eevee, we should at least get an hour or two of training"

"Pidgey!" A trill came from above them. Emma looked through squinted eyes to see the leader Pidgey flying in front of her with a few others behind it. She gave it a confused look as she stood up.

"What is it?"

"Pidgey pi pidg!" It trilled and began doing fighting motions with its wings.

She smiled widely. "Does that mean you want to battle me?"

It nodded. "Pidgey! Pi pi!"

"Alright then," She smirked. "Eevee, I choose you!"

"Eve ve!" she yipped excitedly, jumping in front of Emma and taking her normal stance.

The leader Pidgey trilled loudly and flew at high speeds toward Eevee, diving down from above. Reflexively Eevee began to dodge its attack "Tackle Eevee" With that order she quickly rammed the bid from behind, sending crashing to the ground.

Despite the harsh tackle, Pidgey shook it off with only a few scratches. It once again took to the sky and began circling around Eevee, trilling out loudly. A crowd of Pidgey behind it, trilled loudly as if cheering. They whole flock showed themselves watching eagerly has the battle went on, even the little Pidgey Emma had rescued was cheering loudly.

"Eevee!" She growled, causing the Pidgey to pause in flapping for a second but it quickly regained its movement. The Pidgey then dived again with a stream of wind circling around, quickening its speed.

Emma gritted her teeth._ 'Quick attack?!'_

"Eevee dodge and use tail whip!" She ordered, clenching her fist in front of her face. Eevee flipped backwards out of the way, then twisted around and hit Pidgey with her tail. The foe dodged, allowing the attack to whip its feet, sending a strong prickling pain throughout its body. Pidgey cried out, pulling its feet in and not moving from its spot as it tried to stop the prickling pain.

Seeing her chance, she ordered Eevee to attack. "Eevee quick attack, full force"

"Ev!" She yipped and ran, with a dust cloud trailing behind her. She slammed into the Pidgey sending it right back to the ground, rolling until it slammed into a tree. The Pokemon stayed on the ground, knocked unconscious.

Emma immediately felt the urge to throw a Pokeball at it but didn't as the Pidgey's friends were staring at her, looking very intimidating. Ignoring them, Emma giggled when Eevee threw herself at her, she caught her easily, and swung her around in a circle.

With the help of its fellow friends, the Pidgey stood up and slowly opened its wings to their full length. It folded them back it and turned to Emma, nodding at her in respect. She grinned at it and returned the nod with one of her own. Seeing her nod, the Pidgey took off with some difficulty.

Emma smiled as she saw the Pokemon fly back to their home tree. She then turned around and began heading off to find her trail, with Eevee running to catch up with her. She felt bad that she didn't get to catch a Pokemon, especially that strong Pidgey she had battled but there's always a next time as her mother had always told her.

R&R


	7. Chapter 7

I don't own Pokemon or any of its characters, only my OC's.

Chapter 7

Emma sighed as stared off at the sky, lying comfortable on a small hill. Eevee laid on her back next to her, spending her time playing with the long weeds that swayed back and forth as breeze after breeze blew across the field.

It had been about three hours since she had left the 'Great Tree' as she now called it, and had passed by a sign that said Viridian was a mile away. So, with being so close to the City, she decided to take a small break from walk and lay under a nice tree, to block out the suns beaming rays. She sighed and stretched her arms that made small popping noises. She rubbed her shoulders, massaging them, then turned her side and watched the small flower that was right in front of her face with boredom. Emma let out a groan and the turned once again, lying with her arms and legs spread out.

The only reason she was even lying here, was to wait on a trainer that she had seen at the Professors lab, but so far she hasn't come across any of them. Maybe they had already entered the City or were still training their Pokemon? She had spent around 20 minutes lying on the grassy hill, with the road to Viridian City a ways from her, so that if anyone would walked down that road, she was sure that they would see her.

Eevee was also getting impatient as they had only battled a few wild Pokemon, but Emma didn't catch them as she didn't really feel like it at the time. The Pokemon she defeated were more Pidgey and strangely a lot of Rattata who seemed very keen on stealing her moon shard or anything else shiny she had on. The small rat Pokemon had really gotten on her nerves when 5 of them ambushed her and Eevee, trying to once again steal her shiny things.

With a defeated sigh, she stood up and stretched her stiff muscles, groaning happily when she heard small popping sounds. She picked up both her bag and Eevee, and then walked sluggishly up the hill. Her body felt tired and slow as she stepped into the rough rocky ground.

Emma glanced at Eevee in amusement as she played with a small leaf, her childish side showing. Eevee pawed at the leaf, happily fiddling around with it until it fell, and then she would wait until another leaf fell from the trees above. She paused her movement and looked up, glaring at the trees as though it would make the leaves magically fall. She pouted after a while when the leaves didn't fall and her ears flattened against her head.

Emma shook her head at the small Pokemon and bent down slowly, to make sure Eevee wouldn't fall, and picked up a small green leaf. She handed it to Eevee, who took it in her mouth and then placed in under paw. Emma smiled softly as Eevee made noises as she pawed at her leaf.

It wasn't long until they made it to Viridian City. Emma stared at the City with wonder as she past all the houses that slowly began to grow into large skyscrapers. It seemed to be a deserted city as she couldn't see any people hanging around. Silence filled the air as she walked past the large buildings with wide eyes. She felt honestly confused as she still couldn't find a Pokemon Center and was probably already getting herself more lost than ever.

She looked around, and shivered slightly when she saw that she was the only one walking down a lonely street. Emma was never the one to like anything that had to do with horror or scary stuff. She walked passed a street sign and looked up. To her displeasure it only had the name of the streets and not a sign telling her if a Pokemon Center was near.

"Just great…" She grumbled under her breath and shoved her hands in her pockets.

Emma breathed in slowly, letting the warm late afternoon air to fill her lungs, slowly calming her nerves. Fiddling with her bag strap, she chose to go right and turned to see where it lead her. Her shoes echoed with every step, making her feel the need to walk as silently as she could, but at a quick pace.

She looked up at the sky to it turning into a beautiful shade of orange as the sun began to set in the distance. She ran a hand over her face and gritted her teeth. Why on earth did she always have bad luck? And shouldn't there be signs showing newbie trainers where to go to find the Pokemon Center?

Eevee had lost her leaf a few ways back and had taken to lying her head and paw's on top of Emma's head, while balancing herself with her back legs on her shoulders, her tail swishing side to side. Emma felt the urge to shake her head as she felt Eevee's claws digging into her scalp, but didn't. She reached her hand up and scratched Eevee on her head. She yipped loudly, opening her mouth in a wide grin.

Emma scowled when she felt Eevee rub her head with her cheek, making her hair bunch up like a Pidgey's nest. She quickly flattened it, and winced when her hand got caught up in a knot. Messing with the knot she finally got it out without causing herself anymore harm. Eevee yipped her a soft apology, flattening her ears against her head.

"Hey you!" A female voice yelled from behind them.

"Eh" Emma turned half way around to see a woman with blue hair dressed in a police uniform. "Is there something you need officer?"

The women pointed a pointer finger at her. "You're looking very suspicious this evening. What are you up to?"

Emma raised an eyebrow. "I'm looking for a…Pokemon Center"

"Hmmm likely story," The women placed a hand under her chin and smirked. "But still suspicious!"

"How am I suspicious?" She asked, turning fully to the officer. She held her hands out. "I'm just looking for a Pokemon Center. Do you know where I can find it?"

She shook her head and held out her hand. "Sorry but I'm going to need to see your ID before you go anywhere young lady."

"ID?" She sighed and fetched her PDA out of her bag. She held it out to the officer, who snatched it from her hand and stared confused at it.

"What kind of joke is this?" She asked in an irritated tone. "This isn't your ID or a Pokédex!"

Emma gave her a blank look as she pressed a button, and smirked when the Police Officers eyes widened when the device open and expanded. "Wow, I never saw something like this before…" She trailed off, staring at the screen that display an option setting on what the user wanted to do.

"It's called a PDA and its technology from the Orre Region" Emma informed her as she began scrolling through the options list, to her ID page.

"Orre Region?" The officer rolled the two words off her tongue before her eyes widened in realization. "Oh yeah I remember!"

Emma waited for a moment then spoke. "Yeah it's where I'm from, though; I'm originally from the Kanto Region."

The women narrowed her eyes at Emma. "I heard about that region, over run with thugs, I heard"

Emma glared, feeling the need to defend her home. "It's not as bad as some make it out to be, you know."

The officer seemed taken aback by her tone. "I meant no offence by it. I just heard th-" She was cut off.

"Gossip, all you heard was a lot of gossip," Emma said as she pressed the screen.

The women jumped a little when the PDA began speaking in its metallic voice. "I am PDA, a device that was programed by Prof. Krane and Prof. Michael, and own by Pokemon Trainer Emma Thorn of the Pokemon HQ Lab located in the Orre Region," She watched in fascination as pages popped up, giving her detailed information about the girl and a picture. "Emma Thorn's Pokemon: Eevee, received as starter from Prof. Michael. My function is to provide Emma with advice and knowledge on all future Pokemon she might encounter. If lost, I cannot be replaced."

The voice then faded away and the Officer sighed. "Ok, ok" She pointed in a direction to her left. "Just head that way and the Pokemon Center should be there, you can't miss it."

"Thank you" Emma said, taking her PDA and placing in back in her bag.

The officer watched her for a moment. "Also watch out for any suspicious characters."

Emma looked up at her. "Suspicious characters?"

She hummed and nodded. "Yes, they have been going around stealing Pokemon, so I want you to be careful." She glanced down at Eevee. "Especially with such a rare Pokemon you're carrying around."

Emma reached up and placed her hand on Eevee's back. "Don't worry Officer, I promise to be careful"

"Good and call me Officer Jenny" She told her with a smile before she walk away, clicking on her flashlight to look down darkened alleys.

Emma removed her hand from Eevee's back and allowed it to fall limply to her side. Turning on her heel, she walked in the direction Officer _Jenny _had told her to. She crossed her arms and bowed her head in thought.

She wondered about the strange suspicious people, if they were common thugs. There was a possibility but she knew of Kanto's past with a certain criminal Organization. She shook her head and pressed her palm to her forehead. "There's no connection…" She muttered. "You're just over thinking it Emma…"

She honestly hoped that it was just a group of common Pokemon snatchers. If it was then she was really just over thinking things, because of the recent events. Her hand twitched, and then slowly curled into a fist. "Just over thinking it…" She whispered to herself. But if that was true, why did it feel like she was slowly drowning herself in denial.

Maybe that's what she needed, to drown away in denial and believe that everything will be fine and ok. Just ignore everything around her and carry on with her plans of building her dream. But of course she couldn't as it wasn't in her nature.

Prof. Krane had said she reminded him of Michael when he was a kid and had the duty of saving the Orre Region as the Snag Machine was passed down to him. Prof. Krane said that he had sometimes regretted giving the Snag Machine to Michael as it made the boy mature quickly and had him go against a dangerous organization called Cipher.

He said it was in _both_ of their natures to help those in need. To help the weak and fight the ones who abuses their power. Emma felt a memory stir in the back of her mind when she remembered all the Pokemon she had picked up off the streets when they were starving or were left abandoned and even went up against a poacher who snuck into the Poke Fields, but was thankfully saved by Khan and Espeon. She smiled evilly, remembering how those poachers got the beating of a life time from an angry, mothering Pokemon and a very territorial Espeon, while she watched from the sideline, cheering on Khan and Espeon, with the Pokemon from the Poke Field standing around her for protection.

Eevee twitched her ear, when she heard an almost silent snicker come from Emma. She tilted her head in confusion and let out a small 'Ve'. Hearing her, Emma scratched Eevee's head but didn't bother explaining anything further as she saw the Pokemon Center in front of them.

Emma and Eevee both gaped at the sheer size of the building as they walked up to it. Pokemon Centers in Orre wasn't even this big, being rather small in comparison. That was mostly because there were only three official Pokemon centers in the Region.

She wasted no time in entering the building and walking right up to the front desk, where a woman wearing a medical dress with pink hair was standing behind the desk, staring at the computer in front of her with an intense gaze.

"Excuse me ma'am but are you the nurse?" Emma asked, staring at the pretty lady.

The women blink and turned her eyes from the computer to Emma. "Hmmm? Oh, yes my names Nurse Joy!" She gave her a bright toothy smile, her eyes lighting up. "How may I help you?"

Emma took Eevee off her shoulders and placed her on the light red counter, where she sat and gave Nurse Joy a loud 'Vi' and wagged her tail. Nurse Joy smiled as she petted the tuff of fur on Eevee's head and slowly ran her hands down through her bangs. Eevee purred and licked her hand, nuzzling it.

"Awww, such a cutie!" Nurse Joy squealed, picking Eevee up and cuddling her close to her chest. "And quiet well-mannered."

Emma smiled at the compliment, while Eevee puffed her chest out. "Thank you"

"Of course" Nurse Joy replied and gave her an eye smile. "I also didn't think to see a little Eevee belonging to a trainer as young as you are, since there so rare." She rubbed Eevee's coat as a Chansey with a stretcher came up beside her. She placed Eevee on the stretcher.

"I know, the Professor back in Orre gave her to me." Emma informed her as she leaned on the cool counter top.

"Orre? As in the Orre Region?" Nurse joy question as Chansey rolled the stretcher away.

Emma nodded. "Yep, that's where I traveled from to get here"

She raised her eye brows. "Do you happen to know Nurse June perhaps?"

"Yep, I met all the Nurse Junes." Emma said, her eyes glazing over as she remembered how she and her adopted brothers had always gotten scolded by the Nurses, when they come in with their Pokemon knocked out from training.

Nurse Joy laughed. "Well that's good, how are my cousins doing down in Orre?"

Emma snapped out of her daze. "Fine, their all fine"

"That's good. I haven't seen them in a while, maybe I'll call them later" She sighed.

"I think they'll like that but they might be a bit busy since Orre is a lively place." Emma told her.

Nurse Joy nodded, keeping that piece of information lock in her mind. She then bowed her head a little. "Well if you excuse me I have to go and check on your Eevee. You can wait in the waiting room while we heal your Pokemon." She bid Emma a goodbye and walked away to the back room.

Emma shifted a little, then pushed off the counter and walked into the waiting room. Sitting down in a chair she propped her head on her palm, while her elbow rested on the chairs arm rest. She took a deep breath as she pulled her hair back into a high pony tail, with her side bang framing her face. She swallowed, wincing as her parched throat burned. Standing up, she walked over to a vending machine and put in 200 Pokemon Dollars for a Fresh Water and 500 more for a jar of Moomoo Milk for Eevee, which should last her for about three days.

She picked up both refreshments and placed the milk in a pocket in her bag. Unscrewing the lid to the water, she took a long gulp. She shivered a little as she felt the cool water enter into her mouth and rush down to the back of her throat, stopping the itchy feel in the back of her throat. After taking a drink, she placed the almost half filled bottle of water into her bag and walked back over to her seat.

She slumped back, twisting her hair in her hands in boredom. The silence of the large building was beginning to lull her asleep; unconsciously she leaned back, slumping back further into the seat despite the awkward angle. That was until a loud shout had made her jump violently and crash onto the floor.

Her eyes watered as pain shot up her face and traveled throughout the rest of her body. Groaning she sat up, holding her head in her hands, rubbing it. She cursed, praying that this wouldn't give her even more bruises. Her stomach sent a strong wave of pain through her after she collided with the ground, making the situation a whole lot worse for her.

"Nurse Joy! Nurse Joy!" a young male voice screamed. Emma's head snapped up as she took a few minutes to recognize the voice. There across the room from her was Ashton, followed by a worried looking Seth.

"Ashton?" She grunted out his name, slowly standing up. The boy's heads turned to be greeted by Emma who was hunched over, looking to be in pain. Her blond hair seemed to need a good brushing was pulled back with bangs framing her face, her body shaking slightly, and her clothes were bunched up.

Seth stared surprised. "Emma, what are you-" He cut himself off when he saw a small part of her stomach, where her shirt and vest had risen up. His eyes widened a small fraction when he saw the nasty coloring of the bruises that cover her lower stomach. He took a step forward, eyes still on her stomach. Ashton stared as well, shock clearly displayed on his face. Seth took another step, while Ashton turned his attention back to the bundle in his arms.

"Emma…your stomach," He swallowed thickly, as the painful looking bruises flashed in his mind. "What happened?"

She was frozen, stiffen and wide eyed. "Wha?"

"The bruises Emma" He questioned her again, ignoring when Nurse Joy rushed in and out with his friends Pokemon. He stared the girl down, watching as her body seemed to freeze.

"It's nothing" She said shakily and pushed down her shirt and vest as quickly as she could. Though, it didn't seem like a good idea as she hunched over a little more, hissing in pain. Her brows knitted together as she took slow concentrated breaths, hoping that it would relieve some of her pain.

"It doesn't look like nothing" Ashton replied, staring at her with solemn eyes. He stared at her for a second before turning his gaze towards the OR room where his Charmander was taken. His heart clenched at how those people dressed in black uniforms had beaten them all so easily, not showing a bit of remorse when they ordered their Pokemon to take them all down and almost killed Charmander. He was just thankful that they had gotten away before those weirdo's could steal his and his friends Pokemon and for finding a Pokemon Center in time.

"I'm fine" She said through gritted teeth. "What you just saw was something that happened back at home."

Seth narrowed his eyes at her but dropped the subject. He could tell that she was withholding information from him. He decided not to question it would make her go into a defensive mode and would make her keep her distance from him. He sighed. "Fine, I believe you"

Emma relaxed a little when she heard that, but she knew he had lied as he eyes had a flicker of curiosity burning in them. "Thank you Seth" She said, and looked over at Ashton, who was leaning on the counter, clenching his hair in his fists. "What's with him?"

That seemed to have made Seth depressed, as Ashton's shoulders slumped lower. "We were…attacked and Charmander got hurt badly"

"Attacked? By who?" Emma questioned as she walked up to them. Could they be talking about the suspicious people officer Jenny told her about?

Ashton turned to her, staring at her with his bloodshot eyes. "I don't know ok!" He shouted, making her jerk back in surprise. "They called themselves Team Racket or Rocket!"

As he ranted on about the mysterious people who attacked them, Emma was frozen with her breathe caught in her throat. No…no…nononononnononononon! Team Rocket!? They were supposed to be in Orre, what were they doing in Kanto? Why were they here?! She knew that they used to try to take over Kanto but failed every time due to a newbie trainer rising up against them.

Team Rocket…the words that made her heart skip a beat. Could they be trying to take over Kanto with their Shadow Pokemon? She shook her head and gave Ashton an intense gaze. "Are you sure?" She asked, cutting him off in mid rant.

He glared. "Of course I'm sure Emma! These dudes were practically singing me their theme song."

She paused and gave him a blank look. "A theme song?"

"Yes, a theme song!" He shouted, waving his arms as he spoke. "They came out of nowhere and began singing to me and Seth!"

Emma felt her eye twitch in annoyance. Ashton, from her guess, was either lying or those Rockets he ran into was fake. There was no way that a group like Team Rocket would sing to their victims. So, possibly these were just two idiots dressed up in some Team Rocket grunt costumes or Team Rocket wasn't as bad as she had heard.

She pressed her hand to her palm and took slow relaxing breaths. Closing her eyes, she turned her face away from them. "You guys shouldn't mess with those people. Their dangerous" She warned them, but got a snort in return from Ashton.

"You can't tell me what to do and after Charmander gets better we're going to hunt those bastards down and make them wish they never attacked us!" He shouted confidently, staring at her with unwavering determination.

"Fool" she muttered under her breathe and turned away from them. She was about to sit down until the building shook violently, with a loud blast that blew her back. She screamed as she was thrown back, slamming right into Ashton and Seth. The boys quickly covered her body with their own to protect her from the debris that flew at them.

"Gnngg…" Was the sound that came from the three children.

"Hahaha," A feminine voice laughed in a high pitched tone. "That was so easy"

"I agree" A male voice said in a happy tone. "I thought it would have been harder than this."

Opening her eyes slowly, Emma looked up to see two figures coming towards them through the smoke. She coughed violently and tried sit up, only to find two bodies on top of her. Grunting loudly, she pushed them off her, ignoring their complaints, and stood up. Facing where the voices were, she watched as two people, a women and man walked from out of the dust cloud, dressed in Team Rocket uniforms. Emma sneered at them when they turned her way, the women giving her an arrogant smirk while the man stared at her with a grin that put her on edge.

"Awww look here Isaac a little brat giving us the stink eye, how rude" She complained in her child-like voice and crossed her arms. Her partner only hummed in reply, keeping his focus fully on Emma and the three boys.

The women looked to be around the age of 23 and had long pink hair that was curled beautifully, pale skin, and emerald eyes. She had a nice figure and good looks but wore a scowl that diminished her beauty. She kind of reminded Emma of Violet…

The man seemed to be around the age of 25 and had blonde hair that was short in the back with long side bangs and bangs, emerald eyes, and tanned skin. He was somewhat built but not by much and seemed to be happy about something as he looked around at the destruction, that Emma sure that they caused.

"What do you want?" Emma asked in a steady voice.

"You're Pokemon" Isaac said, grinning. "Now hand them over or we'll use force"

Emma was about to reply but Ashton spoke up. "Team Rocket!"

"Way to go on stating the obvious" The women muttered, making Ashton growl.

"Shut up!" He snapped.

She glared at him. "How rude!" Stomping her foot childishly, she pulled out a Pokeball. "I think that I should teach you some manners that your mother didn't!"

Ashton glared. "My mother taught me to respect all those who deserve it and you criminals certainly don't!" He shouted, clenching his fists in anger.

The women fumed. "Alright you little brat you asked for, GO MEOWTH!"

"Meowth" The male cat Pokemon purred after materializing. It then began to stalk towards the group, showing off his claws with a malicious glint in his eyes.

"Meowth huh?" Ashton stared down at the Pokemon as he and the others checked it out with their Pokédex's, except Emma, who took out a strange device that was colored gray or silver and looked kind of cool to him as it opened and expanded, displaying information on its screen.

"Meowth, the Scratch Cat Pokémon. Meowth loves to roam at night to gather coins and other objects that sparkle, but it spends most of the daylight hours sleeping." The metallic voices said at the same time, making it almost eerie.

Isaac then stepped forward. "Don't forget about me Jules" He threw his own Pokeball into the air and with a bright flash of light, a Machop appeared in front of the group. The male, began showing off his muscles as a type of intimidation.

"Machop, the Superpower Pokémon. Machop have muscles that never tire no matter how much they exercise. Machop have enough strength to throw 100 average sized adults." The devices explained to their owners. Machop chattered, seeming to gloat.

"It's not something we can't handle" Ashton spoke confidently, but everyone could see the bead of sweat falling down the side of his forehead.

Seth cleared his throat nervously as he remembered that their Pokemon had been already beaten by these people. "Ashton, how are we going to battle them without our Pokemon?"

He thought for a minute before his face had a blank look, followed by realization. He looked down in defeated, mulling over ideas about what he could do without his Pokemon. He gritted his teeth. "I have no idea but we have to do something!"

"How about you get out of our way" Jules said, placing a hand on her hip with her Meowth rubbing his head against her leg affectionately, but then grinned. "And let us have that darling Charmander of yours…if we didn't kill it of course."

"Bastards!" Ashton screamed and lunged at them, but was held back by Seth. "Let me go!"

Jules and Isaac both laughed at his angry, red face, mocking him.

"What's wrong kid? Mad that we beat you? We can't help it if you raise such a weak Pokemon, pathetic really." Isaac grinned as the boy turned redder at what he said.

"Shut up…" Emma whispered in a low voice.

"Huh?" Both Rocket grunts turned their attention to a blonde little girl, who stared at them with a heated glare.

"Shut the hell up, you good for nothing pieces of crap!" She yelled as she walked in front of the three boys. "Who the heck do you think you are talking about Ashton and Charmander like that?" She clenched her fists tightly in anger. "Ashton and Charmander might have lost their battle, but no Pokemon deserved to have that happen to them! Does it make you feel good to take someone down who's weaker than you?"

"Emma…" Ashton whispered in awe as the girl took a step forward.

"Does it?" She asked again now that she had their full attention.

"Well, well…" Jules began, examining the loud mouth girl in front of her. "Such a big mouth for a little girl." She laughed lowly. "I think we'll have to change that right kitten?" Meowth purred/growled in reply to his master and walked in front of her.

Emma grinned a little. "Bring it on…old lady"

Jules eye twitched at the comment and her shoulders shook with anger. "Old lady?" She whispered, and then slowly looked up at Emma with an angered expression, that satisfied Emma greatly. "I'LL SHOW YOU AN OLD LADY!"

"I'm already looking at one" Emma taunted. "Probably around the age of eighty if I'm not mistaken." That got the boys and the male grunt to laugh loudly, while Jules fumed.

"YOU TWERP!" Jules screeched. "Meowth show this brat why people shouldn't mess with Team Rocket!"

"Meowth!" The Pokemon growled and lunged at Emma with his claws glinting threateningly. Emma stared the Pokemon down hard before she grinned as it was tackled by a brown fluff.

"Meowth!" He cried as Eevee rammed into it viciously. The attack had the cat Pokemon sliding across the ground, while Eevee jumped back in front of Emma, crouched and snarling at her enemies.

"Meowth, are you alright?" Jules questioned, staring at her Pokemon with worry. She got a nod in reply as he stood up and shook off the attack with ease. Jules then turned back to Emma. "Grrr, I can't wait to see your face when I take that Pokemon away from you!"

"Like that's ever going to happen!" Emma said, with Eevee nodding in reply as she got in a defensive stance. She let out a loud 'Vi' and shook her mane, showing her eagerness to battle the ones who dared to threaten her trainer.

"Well see…" Jules told her, with a determined expression. "Now, Meowth Tackle!" The Pokemon was off rushing off towards Eevee, retracing his claws in when he noticed that it made it harder for him to run.

"Eevee, Quick Attack!" Eevee shot off towards Meowth. Both made contact by head-butting each other, ending up making them slid away from each other from the power in both attacks. They continued fighting, dodging, and growling at each other. But it came to an end when Meowth was ordered to use scratch attack.

Emma watched in shock as the Meowth sent Eevee sailing through the air, and finally slamming into a wall. She gritted her teeth. "Eevee, you okay?"

"Vee…" She gasped as she struggled to stand up, stumbling a little before finally balancing herself. Meowth hissed out a laugh, and meowed loudly in pride as his trainer cooed at him for that attack. He clawed at the ground ready for another attack on the wounded Pokemon.

"Meowth, use Scratch!"

With a growl he shot off, aiming straight for the injured Eevee. "Meowth!" He snarled, and jumped up high, extending his claws for his attack. Eevee stared up with wide eyes and ears folded back as the foe came closer every second. She closed her eyes and willed herself to move, but as she did she knew she was to be too slow to make it.

"Salamance Bite!"

Everyone in the room screamed in shock as a huge dragon like Pokemon came barreling in, appearing out of nowhere. The large being flew towards Meowth in a blur and picked up in its mouth, then threw it into a wall. 'Salamance' roared as it saw its opponent knocked unconscious.

"Meowth!" Jules cried. "Return!"

"Meow…" He whined as he was materialized back into its ball.

"Why you! Machop let's go-er Machop?" Isaac questioned as he saw his Machop cowering as the giant dragon glared down at him. Machop sweat dropped as the glare got worse and did the best thing he could think of.

"Maaaa!" He cried and ran back to Isaac. Hopping up, he touched his Pokeball, materializing himself back in for his own safety.

"Machop?!" Isaac and Jules screamed.

"Salamance now use Dragon Tail!" His master order and Salamance roared as he obeyed. The Rocket grunts screamed as the large creature came at them, bearing its large teeth. It roared gain as it twisted around and slammed Jules and Isaac with its tail, sending them flying off into the distance.

"Ahhhhhhh! Team Rockets blasting off!" They screamed as they were both launched into the air and disappeared.

Salamance grunted as he stared off where they had disappeared then landed on the ground. He shook his head and snorted. The Pokemon turned towards the children, watching in amusement as they stared at him wide eyed, with awe. He sniffed and glanced at his side when he felt a hand place itself upon his shoulder.

"Good job" He master praised, rubbing his shoulder soothingly.

He let out a growling purr. "Grrr…"

His mastered chuckled as the Pokemon nuzzled his side, before recalling him back inside his Pokeball. The man then turned to Emma and the boys. "Are you three alright?" He asked, walking up to them.

The man looked to be in his late twenties or early thirties and had reddish orange hair, pale skin, and the sunglasses he wore made it impossible for the three to see his eye color. He wore black robes that had gray outlines and grey designs with long red bell shaped sleeves, grey and black boots, black pants, and a red sash around his waist.

Ashton stared at him with suspicion. "Been better…"

Seth rolled his eyes at his friend then gave the man a small smile. "Great, thank you"

"Fine…" Emma muttered, giving him a quick smile before retuning her attention back to her Eevee. Cradling her partner, she stood up and rubbed Eevee's head. Emma turned to the man and gave him a gracious smile. "Thank you very much, if you didn't arrive sooner…" She trailed off and looked down at Eevee.

He shook his head. "Don't thank me; I was doing something everyone else would do if they happened to come upon the same scene."

"Still, I'm grateful" She told him.

He gave a low chuckle and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're welcome child"

"Emma, my names Emma"

"Well Emma you and your Eevee battle amazingly and courageously against those villains today."

"Really?" She asked.

"Uhmmm hmmm" He removed his hand from her shoulder and stared down at the Eevee. "It reminds me of someone I meet long ago…"

"Uh?" Emma tilted her head curiously, when he looked off with a distant look in his eyes.

"Who was it?"

He turned back to her. "Hmmm?"

"The 'someone' you meet" She reminded him. "Can you tell me who it was?"

He shook his head. "Maybe later, if we ever meet again, but as of right now I must leave."

Emma frowned. "But why?" She really wanted to talk to the older trainer.

"Business…" He replied simply and walked off, disappearing into the smoke that came from the debris and small fires.

"Oh thank goodness." Nurse Joy cried, running up to the three kids and pulled them into a hug. "You're all safe." She released them after a second. "Are you all okay? Do you need to head to the hospital?"

Seth shook his head. "We're fine, thank you Nurse Joy"

She gave him an eye smile and then turned to Ashton. "Oh yes, your Charmander will be fine. After that little explosion it caused some major problems for me and my Chansey, but don't worry." She said quickly, seeing his down casted expression. "Charmander will be all healed tomorrow, though you will probably need to do some light trainer for about 3 days just to be safe alright."

He grinned in relief. "Thank Arceus for that"

Nurse Joy placed her hands on her hips. "Now all of you need to head down to the Viridian Hotel across the street. Since Team Rocket destroyed the rooms where trainers usually slept, but don't worry your Pokemon will be feeling refreshed in the morning, oh and Emma if you would please…" Nurse Joy held out her arms for Eevee to be placed in.

Emma nodded and carefully placed her friend in Nurse Joy's arms. "Take good care of her"

"I will, don't you worry." Nurse Joy said. "Now off with the all of you before you're all surrounded by the law and reporters."

The three of them laughed together as she shooed them away as sirens were heard…

R&R


	8. Chapter 8

I do not own Pokemon or any of its Characters, I only own my Oc's.

Chapter 8

~Orre Region: Pyrite Town~

Noel glanced around before walking from behind his hiding place. His target, a shady looking man baggy wear on, was a few feet in front of him and still moving towards his destination. Noel weaved his way through the crowds of Pyrite Town, making sure to keep near large groups of people so that he could blend in if his target becomes suspicious.

He breathed softly; filling his lungs with Pyrite's polluted air that smelled terrible to all but him. He was used to the smell as he had live here all his life, along with his adopted brothers Cyril and Ivan. As it was his home, he easily tracked his target by taking shortcuts and climbing onto the rusted old rooftops.

He was used to this spy stuff as it came naturally to him, like fish breathing under water. His athletic build also helped him out. He was a fast runner when need be and could handle a fight by himself. Though, he wasn't very smart, brains being his weak spot and brawn being his strong point. That was Ivan's whole gig right there. He was the genius of their three man group, while Cyril was the leader, and he was the spy, along with being the one to spread rumors around Phenac City as whatever he told there would certainly be spread to many other people. Phenac City was known for its gossip and always suspicious of people, especially from Pyrite Town. So he had to get all dress up to get in the city without catching to much attention.

The corner of his mouth quirked up into a slight smile as his target had almost fell after tripping over an old beer bottle in one of the many dark alleys of Pyrite Town. He would have laughed but that would have blown his cover. He could laugh about it later with the guys, after giving them information. He winced slightly, remembering Duking and Prof. Michael had told him-more like ordered him-to not do any spying or sneaking around, but of course he said he would even though he knew he wouldn't. He felt a bit of guilt seep into his stomach. He hated lying to the ones who had gotten him and his brothers off the street, but after Cyril had told him and Ivan about what he overheard Duking and Prof. Micheal talking about how they thought that Shadow Pokemon was once again being created. He felt a shiver trail up his spine when he heard that. Shadow Pokemon are the creatures that had murdered his parents 5 years ago.

It had been two years after his parent's death when those creatures were all captured by Prof. Michael and purified, as well as the fall of Cipher. Noel remembered how many people cheered after hearing the good news, having week long celebrations with Prof. Michael, the hero of Orre, the party's special guest. Noel didn't find it in his heart to be happy as he was alone and by himself…well he did have Ivan and Cyril, who taught him how to grow up in the Pyrite Town's streets as an orphan or street rat as some called them.

And it only made it worse when Cyril had told him that Prof. Michael thought that Team Rocket had maybe put a hit on Emma, after a grunt managed to escape and with her having an Eevee and being Prof. Michael's apprentice. He felt his breath shorten, as if some invisible force had stolen all the air from him. He was afraid, though he wouldn't admit it out loud, for Emma's safety. She was like a sister to him and his brothers, the angel that saved them. Ok, maybe she wasn't an angel but she was the one who had gotten them off the streets or at least was half the reason they were off the streets. Being three years older than her, made him her big brother as Ivan and Cyril was the same age as Emma.

Many he knew, called him overprotective of her, but she loved it when he followed her everywhere. Since her mother was always working and her father was off in a faraway region studying the different types of Pokemon, she had looked up to him as a role model of sorts. That by itself had inflated his ego majorly as he and the Pre Gym Leader Justy would always fight over who was Emma's favorite big brother. But Emma being her young self-had said Justy was her favorite big, big brother, while he was her favorite big brother. She loved them equally and nothing could change that.

Suddenly he was brought back to the present when a loud slam echoed through the alley. He jumped in fright and held a hand over his heart that was beating quickly. Staring from a far, he saw a small brawl had taken place, with his target watching it with amusement. He sniffed in disgust, as the two drunken men on the ground had spilled a large bottle of strong smelling alcohol.

The target let out a short bark of laughter when the two brawlers had ended up making the fight bigger after they had clumsily made the mistakes of hitting the wrong person. Noel shifted, a little uncomfortable. He wished that his target would hurry up and get a move on instead at watching a pointless fight. Noel hated crowds and right now a large crowd was gathering around the men, betting on who would win or who would be the first to get knocked out.

Finally, the target moved as the crowd began to get rather pushy, all wanting to see the fight. Noel gladly moved, allowing someone else to quickly stand in his spot, cheering with the rest of the crowd. The target was beginning to bore him, and he wondered if he maybe followed the wrong person. The man looked suspicious, more so than everyone else in Pyrite Town. The man seemed to be trying, almost too hard, to try and fit in with the crowd. Noel snorted at his failed attempt to blend in with the crowd. He made an easy looking target for a thief.

The target soon stopped in front of a building that was guarded by two large men. Noel quickly climbed up the side of a building, when he couldn't hear the small talk. He quietly crouched down and sneaked on top of the roof, right above the target. He laid flat against the hot roof and began to army crawl over to the side. Listening in quietly, the conversation became clearer.

"…I don't know, but I have information for the boss so let me in boys." The target ordered them, as if he had higher authority. Noel heard some shuffling and the loud screech of a door sliding open. He winced at the sound, rubbing his ears in hopes of getting rid of the ringing sound.

Once he was sure the man had entered, he army crawled over to the building outside wall and forced off a large square metal piece of the wall that was thankfully not wielded on to good. He crawled into the small hole and stood up to find himself in a warehouse, that was had large stacks of crates everywhere in an orderly fashion. He was on the highest railing in the room it seemed.

His eyes scanned the area, looking for any surveillance camera's or guards that walked around. His shoulders untensed a little as he noticed no one walking around, and stood up, hunched over slightly. He walked silently over to a hiding spot between two crates, with tools hanging in front of him as a type of camouflage. To be extra sure he wasn't seen, he placed a black tarp over the two crates.

He sat back, leaning against the blue crate and slid down to a comfortable seated position, and turned towards the edge of the railing. He looked down as his target made his way into the room, leaving out of a hallway with two different guard's right behind him. Noel narrowed his eyes as a wealthy looking man entered the scene with a Persian by his side, and two men dressed in unusual identical uniforms. His eyes widened a little when he noticed the large red 'R's on the front of the uniforms. _'Team Rocket' _He gave the two uniformed men heated glares, but tore away from them and looked back to the older looking man.

"Roads…why is it you needed to talk to me for?" The older man asked, in a non-caring tone. As if wanting to show his annoyance, the man began tapping his expensive looking cane onto the cement ground. His Persian sat beside him loyally and curled its tail around his foot, as though for protective reasons.

"Well boss, we already ta go and head down ta Kanto," He answered quickly, wishing to please his boss. "Da boss of dat old group said he's ready ta start anytime ya are."

The 'Boss' scrunched his face up at the man's terrible grammar. "I see…and what of our arrangements?"

"He said tat it would be discussed when ya arrived in da Vermilion City port"

He quirked a brow. "Really now…hmmm…"

"Is something da matta boss?" The man asked, watching his boss with fearful eyes. He took two steps away from the old and watched him, his expression guarded. Noel noticed how tense the man was, and how tense the atmosphere was as well.

"Yes…there might be in the future. I'm feeling as though the _Chipher Boss_ is probably going to betray us later on…" He said, rubbing his chin. He smacked his cane roughly against the ground. "But that will be dealt with later on."

The grunt to his right nodded his head in agreement. "True, as we still rule that region as well as the Johto region. They'll be stupid to go against us on our own turf."

"You are, somewhat, right, but still we will go through this with caution." He said in a low tone. "Cipher used to be a powerful organization but like us was defeated by a _'Hero'_."

"Mora like ah twerp eh guys?" The target joked lightly, letting out a husky snicker.

"Boss, that girl that Damon ran into at that lab…do you think…" The grunt to his left trailed off, not wanting to offend his boss with thoughts of a child once again beating them all and ruining everything.

"No, she could be one in a million, but I'm going to watch over her in case," He smirked. "She could work to our advantage if Cipher ever goes against us, which I'm sure they will."

Noel face scrunched up in disgust at what the man said. Using his sister to his advantage? Oh hell no, he wasn't going to let that happen. But, knowing his sister…aw heck. Deciding he was finished listening in, Noel left quickly and silently. He ran quickly all the way back to Duking's home, gathering glances as he ran in and out of alley ways. Arriving, he entered and looked to his right to see Duking, Prof. Michael, Mrs. Lillian, and his brothers, along with Nett and Secc, standing in the room with a large case on the desk.

"Noel…where were you?" Duking asked, giving him a fierce glare.

Noel backed away, feeling safer from afar. "I was…uh…lost on the road of life?"

He winced as it came out as a questioned.

"Noel, we told you not to go out spying!" Prof. Michael told him, easily seeing through his lie.

"I know, but…" He was cut off by Duking.

"Never mind," He growled out, biting back his urge to lecture the young boy. "As of right now we have more important matters to discuss."

Noel nodded and scurried over to the couch where his brothers were seated. "Hey guys how much did I miss?"

"Not much, they wouldn't start without you here, since we all practically begged to help them," Ivan informed him, crossing his arms and giving the adults a calculating stare.

"Yeah man, we had to wait forever!" Cyril whined loudly and Noel rolled his eyes at him. Some would wonder why he was the leader and it was because of him being the strongest trainer and being able to rise to the occasion when the situation called for it.

Lillian gave them a radiant smile. "Don't worry boys, we'll begin soon…" Her smile diminished into a tight line as Duking began talking.

Duking walked from behind his desk, coming to the front of it and standing tall, with his huge bulging muscles in his arms showing when he crossed them. "Now that Noel's here we can begin." He cleared his throat. "A few days ago the Pokemon HQ Lab was attacked-"

"Yeah, yeah we already know that!" Cyril interrupted.

Duking narrowed his eyes. "How would you know that?"

"Easy, I eased dropped on you guys…ohhhh crap," Cyril face-palmed when he said that.

"Idiot" Ivan hissed, while both he and Noel slapped Cyril on the head.

"Owww!" He cried, covering his head with his hands.

Prof. Michael shook his head. "I knew I heard something…"

Duking growled lowly, but bottled up his frustration. He could have a 'talk' with the boys later on their listening skills and being respectful towards others. "Never mind that, from the incident at the lab we believe that Cipher had returned as well as being teamed up with Team Rocket."

"Your right" Noel told him as he folded his arms, and fiddled with Absol's Pokeball in his pocket.

Everyone in the room turned towards him, staring with confused expressions. He sighed. "When I was spying, I overheard that Cipher was back and that Team Rocket was helping them, though a wealthy looking old man with a Persian, believes that Cipher will betray them, so their alliance seems off to a rocky start."

Lillian looked startled. "So it's true. Cipher has truly returned and Team Rocket had joined them? I thought Team Rocket only worked alone."

"Yes, but think about it. Cipher is offering to give them the world's strongest Pokemon, seems like a fair deal." Prof. Michael said, staring at the floor with a dazed look in his eyes.

Noel grimaced, running a hand over his head. "But that's not all."

Cyril's grin was wiped off and replaced with a small frown. "What else could have been discussed?" His tone was neutral as he asked the almost innocent question. Though, Noel could see the slight ting of fear in his eyes. His brother was afraid and had a right to be.

"It's about Emma…" Noel said slowly, his eye twitching as the room went silent. His hand twitched a little with the need to do something in those few silent minutes, but refrained from doing so. He kept his eyes on the floor as the prickling sensation made his neck hairs stand.

Mrs. Lillian let out a shuttered breath and placed a hand on her chest while the other hung limply at her side. Her face was twisted in fear and suspense. She took a deep breath. "W-what about m-my d-daughter?" She mentally cursed herself from stuttering like that.

Noel flinched slightly when she turned to him, with eyes full of unshed tears. She feared the worst, like they all were. "The old man, probably the leader as they called him 'Boss'."

"Giovanni eh?" Duking questioned, becoming very interested, not that he already wasn't.

Noel shrugged, continuing on as he Duking hadn't interrupted. "The 'Boss' said that if Emma was the upcoming _Hero_ that they would use her to their advantage if Cipher ever betrayed them. But like he said, it could be one in a million. Emma being the _Hero_ I mean."

"But still a possibility," Nett muttered under his breath.

"Then I guess we have no choice…" Prof. Michael ran his hand over the large case that was placed on Duking's large wooden desk. "Since I have to stay and protect the Orre region in case any Shadow Pokemon is seen…"

Secc's eyes widen in surprise. "You're going to give her _that_?But Michael, she's just a child!"

"As was I, when the device was given to me." He reminded them, unconsciously rubbing his hand his arm, remembering the contraption that helped him save Orre long ago. "Emma is a strong girl; I have faith that she'll do the right thing."

He turned to Lillian. "Do I have your permission to give Emma the Snag Machine?"

She hesitated. "…I do, but Michael…if you give it to her what are you going to use?"

He smiled slightly at her. "My old one, of course."

Nett blinked. "Your old one?"

Michael nodded. "Yes, my old one. The one Emma will use is new and improved." He then added. "And easier to hide, if needed to be."

"You created more Snag Machines?" Ivan asked, shocked. He stood up, along with his two brothers and walked over to the large case. Each of them curious about the new creation.

"Only this one and Prof. Krane helped, of course." He said, opening the case and showed them the new Snag Machine. "This Snag Machine will be much easier to hide than mine, as it will not be as large."

Everyone stared at the new machine awe. It seemed to look like a leather elbow length glove, but had vein like lines that had a glowing light that ran up from the tips of the fingers to the end of the glove, as the small light disappeared another would run up. On the top part of the hand was a circular device that was slanted towards the inside, and protruded from the glove about two inches in height. A small orb glowed a bright blue in the center of the device, with the slanted part glowing blue as well. At the end of the glove like contraption, there was a 3-inch in height and an inch thick metal piece wrapped around the edge that also had a blue orb in the front center of it, with a thin line extending from it and wrapped around the piece of metal. The line, too, glowed a bright blue color. On the palm side there was a large black mark that made a circle, supposedly where a pokeball was supposed to go. In the center of the palm a small blue circle glowed a bright blue and had glowing blue veins that connected to the black circular line.

"It's beautiful…" Lillian whispered softly, staring down at the strange device. Everyone else began to compliment on its looks as well as they observed it closely.

"So," Nett began, stuffing his hands deep in his pocket. "Who's going to deliver it?"

R&R (^.^)


	9. Chapter 9

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, only my Oc's

~Back in Viridian City~

The young blonde decided to sleep a little longer than she planned. She had woken up earlier, around 7:00 a.m., for her only to close the blinds to block the annoying sunlight. She was snuggled under the sheets of her thick overs, wrapping around her body like a cocoon. Emma sighed happily, rubbing her face into her pillow.

Last night, she had stayed up till the early morning talking to Prof. Michael and Gym Leader Clay. She had called 'Papa Clay' first and told him everything that had been going. He didn't interrupt until she was finished, and then began giving her his wise wisdom for her to calm down. Emma obeyed slowly and took slow breaths as she listened to Clay speak to her about the recent incidents. He really didn't have much to say as he was challenged to a battle a few minutes before she called. Emma remembered hearing the enraged challenger ordering Clay to not ignore him. She giggled as Clay began telling her how he was going to have another challenger to beat since he beat another earlier. Turns out, Unova also had a batch of 13 trainers that graduated a few months ago, and Clay was not amused when some newbie trainer came up to him rudely demanding a challenged.

Sadly he had to hang up, when he had gotten fed up with the demanding 'Hotshot'. He said he would call her sometime later to see how everything was playing out, telling her that if she ever needed him, he was a call away. Even saying he would travel all the way to Kanto if he had to.

After hanging up on Clay, she scrolled through her contacts and pressed the button, calling the Professor. When he picked up, saying a happy hello, she quickly interrupted, with the events spilling from her mouth. Prof. Michael had dropped his happy attitude as it was replaced by his serious one. He ordered her to repeat everything over again in a slower pace so he could understand what she was trying to say. She had blushed and slowly retold him everything that she had just said.

He was silent after she finished, making her worry. She had fidgeted as the silence over the PDA had made her twitch a little. In that small bit of silence, she heard the Professor moving. Probably to his office. A sound of ruffling papers was also heard, along with a loud 'thunk' sound. She frowned in confusion and wondered what he was doing, but never questioned him out aloud, rather waiting for him to speak.

She had begun to fiddle with the hem of her blue pajama shirt, tracing the outlines of patterns that crisscrossed in different shade of blue. It was a few minutes later when told her that they had gotten a lead on Team Rocket and Cipher was really back as they and Team Rocket had a truce as of right now. Her breath shortened, but the Professor had ignored it and told her that he was going to deliver her a gift in Pewter City. But to receive her gift she had to defeat the Gym Leader of the town as a test. Despite her begging he didn't tell her who was going to deliver whatever it was and then ended their conversation with a quick goodbye and goodnight, though it was morning time.

When she awoke it was at least 10 in the morning. A groan slipped past her lips as she rose from her comfortable warm bed, allowing the its red thin cotton sheets to fall down and pool around her waist. She shrugged off her covers and went to the bathroom, to take a quick shower. Her muscles praised her silently as they released tension and allowed her body to relax, slowly coming out of its sleepy state.

After showering, she got dressed and grabbed her messenger bag, heading out of her hotel room, running past the reception desk as she had already paid them. She stuck up her hand and gave a quick wave, when the women yelled a quick goodbye, when she saw Emma rushing by her. The women laughed at the energetic child, before resuming typing on her desk computer.

Ignoring the strange looks she got from people, she rushed down Viridian's main street towards the Pokemon Center. She dodged the citizens ungracefully, almost tripping at least twice. By the time she had reached the Pokemon Center, she had received many complaints from people who she almost ran into. Giggling, she went over to the front desk and tapped the bell, allowing a small 'ding' to echo through the area. She got side glances from many kids in the lobby, making her stiffen, feeling a little self-conscious. It was only when they turned away, dubbing her not worth their time, when Nurse Joy came out holding Eevee.

Nurse Joy stood in front of her, with a happy looking Eevee in her arms. "Hello again Emma, I hope you had a good rest at the hotel." She smiled and handed over Eevee to her trainer. "And Eevee is as healthy as a Ponyta."

Emma smiled as she placed her partner on her shoulder. "That's good, I want Eevee all energized for a journey through the Viridian Forest." Eevee yipped, flicking both her ears and tails with a smirk on her face.

Nurse Joy covered her mouth with her hand as she giggled at the determined Pokemon. "It seems she is in good spirits today."

Emma nodded, while running her hand through Eevee's soft fur. Her hand stopped for a second, much to the hate of Eevee. "Did you groom her?"

"Of course, one of our care takers will groom a Pokemon to make them happier." She answered, clasping her hands in front of her.

"Does it cost anything?"

Nurse joy waved her hand. "Oh no, it doesn't. It's for free of course as I heal your Pokemon for free."

"Oh…" She said in realization. "Uh…thank you very much"

"It's nothing sweetie, it's something new we have just added to the Center." She explained, and then glanced at Eevee. "And it seems that it working quiet well so far."

Eevee purred, yipping softly at Nurse Joy. "Vi Eve"

"It seems it is," Emma petted Eevee; her grin growing as her friend's purring became louder. "Eevee always loved to be groomed and pampered."

Nurse Joy giggled. "Then you should take her to the Pokemon Center whenever you can."

She nodded. "I'll be sure to do that." She thought about ending the conversation there and leaving, but paused. "Uh…Nurse Joy?"

"Yes?"

Emma looked away from her gaze, finding the floor very interesting with its clean shine. "How is Charmander?"

"Charmander," She tilted her head in thought. "I'm not really supposed to speak about my patients, but since you seem to know his trainer I'll tell you. Charmander was healed and was retrieved earlier this morning by his trainer."

Emma furrowed her brows, frowning at the idea at being the last trainer to enter the forest. "So Ashton and Seth already left?"

Nurse Joy shook her head, smiling warmly. "They were going to leave, but they were kind enough to help the old man that lived down the street with some boxes. You see, he's moving to Hoenn and needed some help packing and moving his things."

Emma blinked as a giddy feeling rose within her stomach, at the thought of not being the last trainer to enter the forest. She didn't want to her two newly dubbed rivals rushing ahead of her, getting stronger. A rush of sudden thrill shot through her, thinking about having a battle with one of the two. She bobbed her head up and down. "Good to know" Nurse Joy raised an eyebrow, making Emma quickly rephrase her wordings. "I mean C-Charmander being okay" She said quickly. Then added. "And it's good to see Ashton and Seth helping you out."

"Yes it is. It's hard to find young people these days that are willing to help out anymore." Emma agreed, her words reined with truth as the criminal rates had spiked suddenly in the last year or two. This had made young trainers wait a year or two before actually starting their journey. But some, like Emma, and a few at Prof. Oak's lab seemed to have thought nothing of it.

"True, anyway could you tell them I said bye?"

"Of course I will," She said with a bright smile. "And have a safe trip to Pewter City and make sure to avoid the Beedrill that live in there." She warned softly, then turned and left, heading down a hall leading to a back room that was closed off.

Locking that warning away in the back of her mind, she walked out of the building. Trudging down the sidewalk at a measured pace, she examined her surroundings.

The City had a warm feeling, a nice aura, whatever you wanted to call it. Its buildings kept in good shape, full of chattering people who took their time while others rushed off to their destination. Emma breathed the fresh air, feeling her lungs to their maximum until they were full, then exhaled. It also had fresh air, with a hint of sweetness that came from the many flowers that were either hung or placed around shops and buildings.

"Vi" Eevee yipped loudly, gaining Emma's attention. She looked slightly to her side to see Eevee staring at everything with wide eyes, large eyes that were filled with innocent wonder. Eevee was always one to be hardly impressed with anything, as they was used to Orre and found nothing interesting their anymore, since she had lived there all her life.

Though, she sometimes wondered what she would be like if she grew up in Kanto, her original homeland. Would she be the same as she is now or would she have been different? This region was lush with greenery and Pokemon, both thriving here, along with people. But back it Orre, the life was slowly returning as it could be seen in a seven year difference, after the Shadow Pokemon and Cipher were defeated.

Orre was blessed to see this and hoped their land would thrive more in the future. As the forest and grasslands spread, growing over the harsh terrain, they prayed to Celebi, a Pokemon that was looked highly upon in the region. Even Emma prayed to the legendary creature at its shrine, where few rarely go as you needed an Elder's permission or the trainers that guarded the forest wouldn't let you in. The Relic Shrine was dedicating to Celebi, placed in the middle of Agate Village's thick forest, surrounded by tall, thick trees that allowed little light to enter, but the few rays that did made the forest seem almost enchanted.

Yes, both Kanto and Orre were different, but shared something in common. Both were her homes, though, Orre longer than Kanto. In some way, she was glad that her mother had moved to as she would have never met all the people she had come to care for. She wouldn't have met Eevee either, and that thought made her chest tighten in pain. She couldn't believe in a life without her friend, her partner, by her side. It almost seemed silly to her to believe it.

Shaking her head, she quickened her pace towards the path that led to the forest. She felt the giddy feeling from earlier return as the sidewalk ended and they started down a dirt road. The weather was great today, something Emma was thankful for. Good weather meant Pokemon were more likely to come out into the open.

On her shoulder, Eevee stared ahead at the tall trees that stood proudly in the distance. Her ear twitched as a breeze blew by flowing through her wavy fur. She sniffed when the trees hardly budged as the breeze hit them, only rustled a bit, before going back to remaining still. Their scents, the smell of sweet sap with a hint of honey, filled her nostrils making them flare.

Emma glanced at Eevee and raised a brow, seeing her eyes closed, but remained quiet as she noticed her friend sniffing the air. She sniffed the air herself, and immediately a sweet faint scent was picked up. She could now see why her partner was breathing in so deeply, the air smelled nice.

She gripped her bags strap as she walked closer to her destination, looking at the high grass and trees that surrounded the road. She hummed lowly as the branches rustled around her, from the breezes that passed through them. Leaves fell around her, making Eevee jump from her shoulder and catch one easily in her mouth. Emma stopped and looked down at her partner. She rolled her eyes. "You really love attacking leaves huh?"

"Vi" She yipped in agreement, and then returned back to pawing at her large leaf.

She stood there for a few minutes, watching Eevee nip at the leaf and shred in with her sharp claws. She winced, when it easily ripped in half, falling to pieces as it was quickly shredded apart. Emma wondered why Eevee had taken a liking to ripping apart leaves. But she guessed that Eevee needed to release some of her energy so pouncing a falling leaf would be a great way to release it.

She allowed Eevee to attack a few more leaves before speaking out that they needed to leave. Eevee nodded in agreement, flicking her tail as she walked beside her trainer. Emma glanced down at her partner, and then looked back in front of her.

They walked in silence for a few minutes. Emma held a bored look on her face, with her hands stuffed in her pockets, while Eevee walked alert beside her. Probably hearing for any Pokemon nearby, Emma guessed. She flicked her left side bangs out of her eyes and blew a puff of breath.

'_SNAP'_

Both Emma and Eevee stopped in their tracks and looked around. "Huh?" Emma stared at a thin branch that was hanging limply from a trunk of a large tree. Her eyes narrowed as she began looking all around her.

"MAAA!" Emma and Eevee jumped at the screech and whirled around to see a small monkey looking pokemon staring at them from its perch on a large rock. One couldn't easily tell that this pokemon was angered, as its tail swished back and forth in irritation. Emma's eye twitched at the look it was giving them. It was a murderous look that made her want to run.

Eevee stood in front of her, with her tail swishing back and forth as well. Noticing both Pokemon was caught in a stare down, Emma pulled out her PDA. "Mankey, a Pig Monkey Pokémon of the Fighting-type. Known for its superior footwork, it packs a powerful punch." She pressed another button. "Although Mankey is usually calm, it does have a bad temper. Once Mankey begins to Thrash, stopping it is impossible." It then added. "This Mankey is male and only moves known are Scratch, Low Kick, and Leer."

Putting away her PDA, she grinned. "Hey Eevee, I want this guy, he's going to join our team, so stand by for battle"

"Vi eve!" She cried out, ready for battle.

"Ma?" Mankey tilted its head, the glared understanding what was happening. A tick mark grew on its forehead. "Maaaa!"

"Eevee tackle!" She ordered quickly. Eevee charged at the Pokemon, who easily dodged her attack by doing a front flip off the rock and landing behind her. The Mankey then began laughing as Eevee began constantly trying to attack it, but failed.

Emma clenched her fist that had a Pokeball in it for when it was time to throw. She narrowed her eyes at the wild Pokemon as it continued taunting Eevee, but then she paused when she noticed that the Mankey was calculating Eevee's moves as it laughed. It once again dodged her attack, but accidently slipped on a patch of dirt.

"Eevee quick attack!" Eevee slid to a stop and twisted around to tackle her foe. She head butted the Mankey in the back, sending it slamming face first into the boulder it once stood on. It cried out, but was soon muffled by getting slammed into a rock.

Seeing her chance, Emma threw her Pokeball. "Your mine!"

Mankey whined loudly, but was silenced when the Pokeball hit its head and absorbed him. The round device wiggled once…twice…three times…then made a loud ding sound, signaling that it was captured.

"Yes!" Emma cheered loudly while doing a pose with Eevee. "My first caught Pokemon! I can't believe it!"

"Eevee!" She yipped out enthusiastically, hopping up and down in excitement.

"Come on out, Mankey!" Emma yelled, holding out her Pokeball and allowing Mankey out.

"Man!" Came the growl, from the fighting Pokemon as it materialized on the boulder. It had its back facing towards them and sighed deeply, hunched over with his elbow propped up on his knee and head leaning on his three-fingered hand.

"Uh...Mankey?" Emma walked up to the boulder and tilted her head. "Are you okay?"

"Key…" He turned slightly so she would only be able to see his right eye that was shadowed by the way his was leaned over. He glared and snorted. "Mankey man key"

She flinched back some at the glare, but scrunched up her face in determination and reached her hand out. Her hand sat on Mankey's head and began rubbing, in hopes of soothing the agitated Pokemon. "Hey I don't know what's wrong with you, but…uh…it's going to be okay." She said lamely, scratching the side of her head with her free hand.

Once again, the Mankey snorted and shook off her head. "Key!" He growled, and hopped off the rock and on to a tree limb.

Emma gasped. "Mankey, what are you doing?"

He sniffed and turned away from her, then proceeded to hop away onto other branches that led into the forest.

"Mankey!" She called, and rushed after him with Eevee taking the lead.

He grunted in annoyance at the human girl, and quickened his pace. Emma also ran faster as the Mankey gain speed. Her eyes narrowed in frustration. "Mankey!" She called to him again, but got no answer in reply.

_What's with this Pokemon?_

The Pokemon finally stopped on top of a thick branch that belonged to a large tree. His ear twitched as he heard the girl stop below the tree, gasping. He looked down on her with a superior look and began hollering. "Key man man Key Mankey!"

"What the-" She cut herself off. "Mankey what are you doing? Come down here!"

He ignored her and hollered out again, thrill shooting up his back as he heard his family return his call. He began to jump on the branch in excitement as the sounds of his family came closer. Surely they'll make the human girl go away and give him back his freedom!

"Ve…" Eevee growled lowly and folded her ears back when she heard branches being stomped on. Emma's head swerved away from _her _Mankey and turned to look in the direction of where thunderous sounds were coming from. Her eyes widened when she saw thousands of leaves flowing to the ground as there branches were trampled on by the many feet of whatever was coming.

She gritted her teeth. "Eevee, stand by for battle alright."

Eevee gave her a nod in return.

Emma stared up at the trees in front of her, but a rustle behind her made her spin around. She gasped, as she saw Mankey littering the branches, staring at her with a glare. The Mankey chattered loudly as they surrounded her, giving her accusing looks as if she had done something.

She met their glare head on. "I really don't understand what's going on here, but all I want is the Mankey _I_ _caught_."

Every Mankey seemed taken aback by this then turned to the humans supposedly claimed Mankey. He shook his head, not wanting to acknowledge her as his trainer and turned to his family. "Mankey! Man man key Mankey!" He said, trying to reason with them.

"Key!" A larger one growled at him, and then pointed at Emma. "Mankey key!"

Her Mankey stumbled back, as though the other Mankey had slapped it. His fur had a light red added to it as he snorted loudly, with a tick mark growing. "Key Mankey man!"

The other Mankey shook his head and laughed with others soon joining it. They snickered loudly at the obviously embarrassed Pokemon, who glared at them. Their shoulders shook, making some lose their balance and hang from a tree limb by their tail.

Emma stared at them in confusion, but snapped to attention when Eevee began growling loudly at the Pokemon who laughed at her Mankey first. Suddenly she knew what was going on, that Pokemon was picking on her Mankey!

"Hey you!" Emma shouted at the bulling Mankey. "Leave him alone you big bully!"

"Key?" It's laughing dwindled when its gaze fell upon the human girl. It hopped once on its branch and pointed at her, making loud noises to its friends. All the Mankey around them immediately laughed harder, stomping on the branches in hysterics.

Emma's eye twitched as Eevee growled loudly at the Mankey in anger. "Eevee!"

The loud noises stopped and were replaced with a short growl. "Mankey" The Pokemon then jumped from his branch and landed on the ground gracefully. He then began punching in front of him, while hopping up and down.

"You want a battle?" Emma inquired, and then grinned. "Then you got one!"

"Eevee!" She growled and crouched, ready to spring at her foe.

"Tackle!" Emma ordered, outstretching her hand.

Up in his tree, Mankey watched his trai-er the girl-fight against his brother. His ear twitched at every order that she had given to her Eevee and soon his brother was losing the battle, but by sheer stubborn will he continued on battling her. His eyes followed Eevee's moves as well. She was a tough opponent, which was very easy to tell since she was able to bring his brother down to his knees. His brother was among the strongest in his family.

"Now Eevee, lets finish this with quick attack!" Emma yelled, to which Eevee quickly complied to. She ran at the Pokemon, dodged its Low Kick by hopping over him then once she hit the ground, Eevee twisted her body around and slammed into Mankey, sending him rolling into a faraway tree.

The Mankey cried loudly as its face slammed into the trunk of a tree. The captured Mankey winced and rubbed his cheek remembering how that felt. His attention turned from his brother to the girl, who was supposedly his new trainer. He sniffed and blinked, happy she was at least some kind of strong. But, she wasn't going to win his respect by just being a strong trainer.

Emma grinned and laughed. "That's right! Don't mess with me or my Pokemon! Right Eevee? Mankey?"

"Vi!" Eevee yipped.

"Man…" Mankey glanced at her then turned away, brushing off her presences.

Emma frowned. "Mankey…"

Mankey grunted from his spot and huffed, sitting down. He ignored the rest of Emma's call's that lasted for a few minutes, before he jerked when his brother let out a screech in pain. Startled, Mankey looked over to his brother, to see a Spearow pecking his head furiously. He stood up and jumped down from the tree, but stopped when two other Mankey had hit the bird down and stood protectively in front of his brother.

The Spearow cried loudly, flapping its wings as it cawed. Mankey winced at the loud sound and his eye twitched in annoyance. The screech echoed throughout the area, riling up every Mankey at its sound.

"Now what!?" Emma complained, flinching back momentarily when a bunch of screeches entered the air, like a cry for war. She froze and stared into Eevee's eyes. "What was that?"

Eevee shrugged and gave her a confused look. From beside them Mankey snorted then flicked his tail, slapping it against Emma's leg. She yelped and glared down at Mankey, who glared at her in return, before he pointed at the sky. She looked up and gaped at the flock of Spearow that was headed towards them.

At the sight of them, many of the Mankey ran in different directions for safety. Emma felt the need to run as well, so she ordered Eevee to climb on her should, which she quickly complied to and picked up her Mankey, tightening her arms around him securely. Mankey cried out in shock and began struggling, in fear of her being a Fearow, but a quick shush from Emma made all his struggling cease. Hearing the loud cawing, he gripped her hoodie tightly in his three-handed paw and buried his face into her chest. He flinched when he felt her hand place itself on top of his head and rubbed it, massaging his scalp. He relaxed in her arms. Maybe, having a trainer wouldn't be as bad as he thought.

R&R


	10. Chapter 10

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, I only own my OC's

Chapter 10

Emma gasped, leaning against a trunk of a large tree at the entrance of Viridian Forest. On her left Mankey was sitting up straight and alert, while Eevee sat between her legs with her head resting on Emma's knee. Both Pokemon were relaxing for a short few minutes as Emma had them run when she had gotten tired. Though, right now, Emma cursed herself for not materializing them back into their Pokeballs. It could have saved them a lot of time and energy.

She took out her slightly warmed up water bottle and took a large gulp. She released a happy sigh when the water slithered its way down her throat, cleansing her of her sore throat. Eevee's ear twitched and she whined loudly, giving Emma a look. Mankey glanced over to _his_ trainer, watching as she put her water bottle back into her bag and pulled out a large jar that was full of white liquid. Placing the jar on the ground on the opposite side he was on, she then pulled out two small pieces of Poke snacks and placed them on the ground.

Mankey tilted his head in confusion at the yellow cake look-alikes, but his mouth watered when its smell wafted through the air and was picked up when he sniffed. He gave Emma an eye smile and took a bite of the snack, humming at its amazing taste. Beside him Eevee also ate her snack, eating slower than Mankey as she was used to its taste.

Emma grinned at Mankey and Eevee and retrieved two small plastic cups then poured its contents into them. Screwing the lid of the jar back on, she placed it back into her bag and then placed the two cups beside Mankey and Eevee. Both cheered happily and drunk the good tasting liquid.

Emma smiled, feeling happy that both of her Pokemon was happy themselves. She nibbled on her sandwich that she had gotten from the Pokemon Center's cafeteria. She blushed slightly, when her stomach rumbled for more. Mankey snorted, while Eevee gave her a teasing smirk before returning to her meal.

Mankey had grown nicer towards her, after she had ran away with him from the Spearow. Emma was thankful for that as she didn't think she could live if her Mankey ran away every time she let him out of his Pokeball. She was honestly surprised by his sudden change of attitude, but none the less, she was still thankful for it.

They all sat in peace for a few more minutes, before a small rustle sounded across from them in the thick shrubbery. Mankey growled lowly and stood in front of his food and drink protectively. Eevee sat up, twitching her ears and swished her tail in alarm. Both Pokemon glanced at each other as the rustling got louder, making them tense. Emma looked at the bush and felt unnerved.

As if sensing her unsettling feelings, both Pokemon got into defensive positions. They stood there until a figure made its way out of the bush, taking its time to come out from the shadows and into a ray of sunlight that was actually able to touch the forest floor. Emma's eye twitched as she stared at the small bug Pokemon in front of her.

"Pe?" Caterpie titled its head to the side as it stared at them.

Emma shook her head and let out a sigh. She stood and pulled out a Pokeball from her bag and enlarged it. "Mankey it's your time to shine!"

Mankey howled in happiness and took a stance in front of her, while Eevee returned to Emma's side. He hopped around then punched the air above him, showing he was ready for battle.

"Scratch!" He obeyed and charged at the Caterpie.

Caterpie widened its eyes and began panicking when it saw Mankey heading toward it. It tried to squirm away back into the brush, but was knocked down by a pumped up Mankey. Caterpie coughed and wiggled in pain, whining loudly at the sudden attack. Mankey huffed proudly and placed his hands on his hips, while looming over the down Pokemon.

"Alright" She threw her Pokeball up then caught it in her hand as gravity pulled it back down. "Your mine Caterpie!" She yelled as she chugged the Pokeball at Caterpie.

Mankey jumped away, when he saw the incoming ball, and landed in front of Emma. Caterpie winced when the Pokeball hit the side of his head. He was quickly absorbed in to the ball, and Emma furrowed her brows, waiting for the 'ding's' to end. Mankey kept in a defensive position, almost hoping the Caterpie wouldn't get caught. He wanted to battle more!

But, at last, the Pokeball 'dinged' a hollow sound, making Emma and Eevee cheer, while Mankey pouted. Emma hopped over Eevee and ran over to her Pokeball and picked it up.

She did a pose and held out Caterpie's Pokeball. She looked up at it in a loving way. "Welcome to the family, Caterpie." With a loud 'pop' sound, Caterpie appeared.

Clipping its Pokeball on her black belt, beside Mankey's, she cooed at the small bug-type. "Hey there little guy"

Caterpie flinched, and backed away from her. Emma frowned at that, but ignored it as she pulled out her PDA. "Caterpie, the Worm Pokémon. To repel enemies, Caterpie releases an unpleasant odor from its red antenna. It molts several times while growing." She pressed the next button, to display other information about it. "This Caterpie is a female and its known moves are: Tackle and String Shot."

"Really…why didn't you release the stench when I ordered Mankey to attack you?" Emma wondered out loud, but shook her head and picked up the small bug Pokemon. She gave Caterpie a bright smile. "Bre?"

She squealed. "Awww you're so cute!"

Caterpie looked at her in confusion, before she gave her an eye smile. "Cater pi!"

"Awww" Emma hugged her to her chest.

Caterpie snuggled happily against her chest, letting out pleased sounds when Emma petted her head or rubbed her back. "Bre!" She exclaimed happily up at her trainer, but then stopped when her stomach rumbled loudly.

Emma giggled at the embarrassed Pokemon and sat her down. "Wait one second."

Emma brought out a piece of Poke Snack and a cup of Moomoo milk then sat it down in front of Caterpie. Caterpie sniffed the strange looking food; she looked over at Mankey and Eevee, who ignored her as they ate their food. She nibbled on it then squealed in delight. She began gobbling it up quickly, before she drunk her cup of milk down.

Emma laughed. "Looks like someone was a hungry little fellow huh?"

"Bre pi!" She cheered in agreement and crawled onto Emma's shoulder. "Cater Bre!"

Emma giggled as Caterpie nuzzled her cheek. "You're so sweet, too."

"Eevee" Eevee yipped when she was done with her meal. She trotted over to Emma and gave the Caterpie a lop sided grin. "Ve!"

"Bre," Caterpie nodded at Eevee, wiggling her tiny feet.

Mankey glanced at them, before he shook his head and finished up his food and milk. After finishing up, he picked up the container, along with Eevee's and Caterpie's and handed them over to Emma. She gave him a surprised look, but thanked him. He let out a loud 'Key' then tapped his Pokeball, allowing his body to be absorbed into the circular device.

Emma shook her head at Mankey. After Eevee climbed up on her shoulder with Caterpie, Emma stared at the small bug-type out the corner of her eye. "Hey Caterpie, do you know where any streams are?"

Caterpie nodded. "Bre cater," She said, as she nodded over to Emma's left. Eevee's ears twitch then gave out a loud 'Vi'. Emma rolled her eyes at them then stood up, with the three cups in her hands, and walked with Caterpie nodded in which way she should go. She was thankful that Caterpie knew the lay out of the forest. Maybe Caterpie could help her find a way out if she ever got lost. Emma heard that it was very easy to get lost in these woods, after overhearing a conversation at the Pokemon Center.

Caterpie squealed in delight when they reached a small stream that had slow moving water. Emma squatted by the stream, allowing Eevee and Caterpie to crawl off her shoulders. She then tapped Mankey's Pokeball, which responded by releasing him onto a rock, in the middle of the stream. She then placed their three containers in the stream and washed the small droplets of Moomoo milk off, before she placed them back into her bag.

Mankey shook his body and sent Emma an irritated look, before snorting and sitting on the small rock. He ignored his trainer and team, deciding that the fruit in the trees looked much better and interesting. Emma looked up to see Mankey hopping off the rock, over the water, and onto the ground. He then climbed up a tree with such ease that it made her amazed.

Her attention then turned to her other two Pokemon, who were playing in the water. Emma grinned at them when she saw how they were play fighting with each other. Shaking her head, she dipped her hands in the cool stream water, and let out a content sigh. After flicking her fingers to get the water off, she called Mankey down from his tree.

To her surprise, he responded instantly. He jumped down with five apples in his arms, and hopped over to them. "Mankey" He said then put the apples beside Emma's bag, making her smile softly at him.

He turned back to her and walked over, looking up at her with a questioning gaze. She grinned, feeling pumped. "Hey Mankey, you want to train?"

He snorted, like she really needed to ask. He nodded and fist pumped. "Mank Key!" He yelled out as he hopped up and down, punching the air, showing off to her by doing flips.

She smirked. "Well let's do this, big guy!" She turned to a tree in front of them. "Use low kick on the tree!"

"Key!" His eyes narrowed on the tree trunk and charged. He gained his speed then hopped up and twisted his body around then slammed his feet into the tree. Using his momentum he pushed off the tree and flipped back twice before landing. His chest puffed out in pride when he saw the small indent of his foot on the tree.

"That was awesome, Mankey," Emma congratulated, looking at the trunk with renewed spirit. "Now let's go again!"

This continued on till an hour later, which Emma thought was impressive. Mankey was obviously tired after 24 minutes of running at the tree and kicking it or scratching it, but he still continued. Giving him a well needed break, she turned to Caterpie and Eevee, who watched with awe at Mankey's flips and attacks.

She then proceeded to have a small battle between Caterpie and Eevee, which Eevee won. Caterpie pouted about the battle, but Emma told her that it was just a small spare. In fact Caterpie had done a nice job by spraying Eevee with a sticky String Shot that had made the small fluff ball trip and roll into the small stream. That did give Caterpie an advantage over Eevee, but the stream had washed away the stickiness and allowed Eevee to once again move.

Mankey patted the small bug on her back, and then began talking to her in the Pokemon language. Caterpie responded back, and hunched over with a sigh. Mankey glared and patted her on the back harder, making her almost tumble forward, but Mankey caught her and began speaking to her again. Caterpie nodded to him determinedly and then walked over to Emma and tugged on her pants.

Emma looked down at her and smiled. "Alright Caterpie."

Turning away from Caterpie, Emma crouched down and picked up three large stones. In one hand she threw one up and caught it, and repeating this twice. She smirked. "First Caterpie we work on aim."

Caterpie gave her a nod as she watched Emma take her shoes and socks off then walk into the stream, and place the stones on the large rock that was in the middle of the stream. She pointed at the rock. "Alright Caterpie, String Shot!"

"Bre!" Caterpie answered then shot out a white string, rather than using a String Shot that had a wider range, and hit the side of the first stone, making it spin, but otherwise stay on top of the rock.

Emma clapped her hands. "Good job, Caterpie!"

Caterpie's shoulders slumped at the almost hit, but straightened up at her trainers comment. "Now again." Once again Caterpie shot out a white string from her mouth, but yet again it missed, going over the stone instead of the hitting it.

Caterpie's shoulders slumped again and she hung her head in defeat. "Cater bre…"

"Awww don't worry about it Caterpie. Everyone has something they're not good at and besides with a little practice, you'll be knocking over the stones in no time." Emma said, trying to cheer her up.

Caterpie lifted up her head. "Cater…bre"

"Come on Caterpie, if you want to get better you have to train." Emma told her. "So how about we give it another try huh?"

"Bre!" Caterpie agreed loudly, and glared at the stones that laid on top on the rock. She blinked as she wiggled a little then focused solely on the stones. She puffed out her chest and released another white string and this time it actually hit, but still on the side of the stone, though, the sticky string shot grabbed a hold of the stone and fell into the water.

Emma blinked and then grinned widely. "You did it!" She jumped up and down. "You really did it! Good job Caterpie!"

Caterpie gave her an eye smile. "Bre bre!"

Emma winked at her. "Keep up the good work Caterpie"

She nodded. "Bre!" She then returned back to shooting white string at the other two stones.

Seeing Caterpie keeping herself busy with the stones, Emma turned to Eevee and Mankey. "Sparing time!" She clapped her hands together, while the Pokemon stared up at her in surprise.

Emma quickly stood to the side, while Eevee and Mankey stood across from each other. Their battle last longer than Eevee's and Caterpie's. Eevee came out on the top once again, but was obviously injured bad by Mankey, who still stood ready for another round. Both had endurance and stamina, though, Emma could tell if this battle continued Eevee would lose to Mankey. Their battle lasted about 15 minutes with Emma shouting the both of them orders to attack to dodge. Emma was proud of the two as they had battle amazingly and still stood strong.

She had trained them some her, deciding right then that she should just go ahead and settle camp in the area. While the others trained, she sent up her tent and rolled out her black sleeping bag inside. Placing her messenger bag inside, she walked over to the stream and grabbed her shoes and socks then placed them inside her tent.

Crawling out, she stood up and wiped her forehead. Turning around she saw her Pokemon all training with each other. Glancing over at the rock, she noticed that all the stones were knocked off, with the large stone covered in white string. She walked over to them, and sat Indian style. She petted Caterpie on her head. "Good job at knocking off the stones Caterpie."

"Bre" Caterpie gave her an eye smile and nuzzled her hand. Before she could say anything else, though, Caterpie turned it's up towards the sky and released a wide ranged Stringed Shot that flowed back to the ground like a fountain.

Emma gasped and scooted back, along with her other two Pokemon. The three of them watched in wonder as Caterpie was soon covered by silky string as a bright light enveloped her. Emma's eyes widened as Caterpie began to take on another shape, before the white light slowly diminished and left behind was a different Pokemon from Caterpie.

Emma's eyes turned teary. "Awww Caterpie y-you evolved…"

"Meta…" The new version of Caterpie replied back lazily.

She wiped her eyes and brought out her PDA. "This Pokémon is vulnerable to attack while its shell is soft, exposing it's weak and tender body." The device made a 'dinging' sound. "Metapod has learned harden."

Emma felt pride swell within her. "Oh, Metapod I'm so proud of you!"

"Pod…"

She picked up Metapod and placed her in her on her lap. She began cooing at Metapod, rubbing her head. Metapod gave her an eye smile, and let out a lazy 'Meta'. Mankey stood on Emma's left side, looking down at his team mate's new form. He tilted his head then clenched his fists, feeling a pang of jealously enter him. He looked away from Metapod, but then shook his head. If he wanted to get stronger and one day evolve, he had to train hard and get stronger. His actions weren't missed by Eevee, who gave him a look, before turning back to Metapod and giving her an eye smile. Metapod rocked its body, in a sort of nod, towards Eevee.

Metapod basked in its trainers and team mate's praise, giving them all an eye smile. "Metapod…"

"Your so cool looking Metapod" She cooed, but then added. "You guys are cool to."

Eevee grinned and puffed out her chest, giving Emma a knowing look. Mankey glare softened and he crossed his arms, swishing his tail back and forth at a constant rate. Emma grinned at the two and wrapped her arms around the both of them. Mankey and Eevee looked up at her confused, but she just smiled.

"It looks like our family is getting stronger, eh guy and girls?" She asked them with a goofy grin.

"Pod…" Was Metapod's only answer, with two blinks following after it.

"Eevee!" Eevee yipped with enthusiasm.

Mankey rolled his eye, but nodded in agreement. "Mankey"

R&R


	11. Chapter 11

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, I only own my Oc's.

Chapter 11

It had been three days since Emma had entered the forest and Metapod's evolution. She was proud of her Caterpie evolving, but kind of stumped when Metapod really didn't like doing anything. And if it did tackle, the Pokemon was terribly slow making her an easy target to enemies. But that problem was fix by Emma ordering her to use harden constantly, so if an enemy attack her physically with a tackle they would only hurt themselves in return.

She had trained her Pokemon hard three days ago, and the effects of the training paid off. They were all noticeably stronger than before as it could be easily be told by how they battle. Emma felt pride at her Pokemon each time they won a battle with a wild Pokemon. She remembered her doubts when she trained her Pokemon, feeling she was going a little hard on them, after making them train for almost an hour then switching them out. But, they all pulled through and the results certainly showed.

Also Emma learned that the forest was full of poison type Pokemon that irritated her to no end. But, thankfully, she found items lying around that helped heal her Pokemon when they were paralyzed or poisoned. She still had two paralyze heals and four Antidotes in her bag for future use. She was kind of confused by seeing items lying on the ground, but it didn't mess with her any as it helped her save her money. Call her cheap if you wanted to.

Right now Emma was walking through the forest trying to find the trail path, she had lost sight of. She cursed herself for not being more aware of her surroundings, but she didn't have much of a choice when three Beedrill were chasing her after her and Eevee had defeated one of their own. She spent an hour running from them and hiding, before she finally lost them.

She then took and five minute rest, and dug through her bag to get something to eat, but she found nothing. Gritting her teeth, she smacked herself remembering they were having a lunch break when they battled the Beedrill, so all her food was back there.

"Just great," She grumbled.

Eevee's ear twitched at the sound of her trainers growling stomach as they walked through the thick brush. The corner of her lips tugged downward as the growling continued for 10 more minutes. Shaking her head, Eevee tugged on a strand of Emma's hair and gave her a worried look. Emma waved her off, ignoring the worried look and continued walking.

Emma still could not find the darned path, despite spending almost all day looking for it. Her shoulders slumped, she was really lost. She could ask for Metapod's help, but the Pokemon was no help right now as it was hard to read. Seriously, Emma tried to ask directions, but all Metapod did was give her an eye smile and rock back and forth. Her eye twitched in irritation, at her growling stomach and the never ending forest that hidden the path from her view.

She grimaced. "I'm hopelessly lost…" Her stomach growled. "And hungry"

Eevee patted her on the shoulder with her paw. "Vi eve"

Emma smiled at her in thanks. "Thanks Eevee."

Suddenly she got an idea. "Mankey come on out."

With a blinding white light, Mankey appeared from his Pokeball. "Key?"

Emma bent down. "Hey Mankey we're out of those yummy apples. Do you think you could find more?"

He nodded. "Man!" He ran up to a tree and easily climbed up it, seating himself on its lower branch. "Key Mankey!" He said then hopped to another branch. Emma followed behind in a jog as he wasted no time in jumping from tree to tree. He did wait up for her every few seconds, but right time when she came close to the tree he was in, he would jump to another. He snickered in delight when he heard her groans and complaints.

He stopped on a branch and sniffed the air for a second, with his tail wagging behind him. Below, Emma had stopped with both her and Eevee giving him confused looks. He glanced down at Eevee and shook his head then jumped to another tree limb. Emma followed from below, gasping as her speed increased. Mankey really wanted to hurry up, so he could get some food and so his trainer could get something to eat too, to keep her going.

His ear twitched as he stopped again, and looked up into the sky. A Pidgey flew overhead, with an apple in its beak. He narrowed his eyes in the direction that the Pidgey flew for and dashed forwards. Below, Emma groaned out in frustration when Mankey picked up his pace. She followed close by, despite the burning pain in her stomach and legs. Eevee yipped at her in her ear as if cheering her to go on.

Soon Mankey stopped when they reached a clearing, and sat down waiting for his trainer. He looked around the clearing, scanning the area for enemies but sighed in relief when he found none. His ear twitched when he heard Emma run below him and into the clearing. He became a bit worried when he saw her collapse on the ground.

Picking an apple from the tree, he hopped down and rushed over to his trainer. "Mankey?!" He appeared by her side, and placed the apple on the ground. He shook her shoulder. "Key?"

She gave him a tired smile. "I'm fine just tired."

He glared a little and pointed at the apple. "Key Mankey mank!"

She gave him a grateful smile. "Thanks Mankey"

He only nodded at her. "Mankey"

Giving him a pat on the head, Emma picked up the apple and bit into it. She sighed at its sweet juicy flavor and mouthwatering taste. "Ah," She moaned happily, licking her lips as she finished up the apple.

Throwing the core of the apple behind her, she stood up and stretched. She blinked a few times as a rush of energy was felt going through her after her small snack. She sighed happily and turned to Mankey. "Thanks again"

"Key" He replied coolly then pointed towards the field.

Emma looked up to see apple and Berry trees surrounding the clearing. She also noticed the clearing had tall grass that could be housing Pokemon. Looking down at Mankey, she told him to go collect 6 Oran berries, while she climbs the apple trees and grabs them some food. Mankey huffed, but obey hopping off to a berry tree. Eevee, meanwhile, walked with Emma over to an apple tree that had low limbs, allowing Emma to easily climb it. Eevee's face scrunched up in worry, and she yipped at Emma.

Emma glanced down and gave Eevee a reassuring smile. "Don't worry I use to climb trees back in Orre all the time remember?"

Eevee flattened her ears against her head as she watched Emma climb up the tree, with only a little trouble. Emma sighed as she pulled herself up a branch, and then reached for another. It wasn't long until she reached a thick limb that was high off the ground. Opening her bag, Emma began plucking apples from their branches, only taking a few. She knew these trees were also a food source to the forest Pokemon, and decided to only take about six or seven apples.

Hearing a loud sound, Emma looked over to her left to see Mankey sitting on the ground with Eevee beside him, both talking. With a shake of her head, Emma returned to picking the last seventh apple. The last apple had to be big and juicy looking, ripe for picking. Looking up, she saw just what she was looking for.

She climbed up two more branches then sat down. Her brows furrowed in concentration as she stretched her hand through the sharp, twisted up branches, reaching for the apple. Concentrating solely on the apple, she never noticed a small yellow rodent make its appearances. The yellow rodent sat on the same branch that the large, juicy apple and stared at the fruit with hunger. Noticing the human about to touch the apple, it did the only rational thing there was for it to do.

"Pikachu!" The rodent cried as it released a bolt of electricity that shocked Emma.

She screamed as the electricity pulsed through her, making her fall from her branch. The branches slapped and scratched her as she fell, landing on the ground with a thud. Mankey and Eevee cried loudly, racing over to her and wincing when they saw the scratch marks covering her arms, legs, and face. Eevee whined at Emma, nudging her should with her nose, but squeaked when she was shocked by a small bit of electricity.

Mankey stared at his trainer with a distant look in his eyes. His fists clenched in anger as his breathing picked up, showing signs of oncoming rage. Looking up at the yellow Pokemon, Mankey's eyes narrowed and he released a roar of rage.

The Pikachu's ear twitched as the fur on its back stood straight up, signally that danger was near. Abandoning his apple, Pikachu stood up and looked around him. He jumped, when he heard a sudden roar of rage pierce the air. He tensed up, and slowly looked down to where the sound of rage was coming from. His eyes bugged out when he saw Mankey climbing up the tree at an amazing speed, with a wild look in its eye. He yelped and dodged, when the Monkey Pokemon shot off the limb from under him, and smashed through the limb he was just on.

Pikachu growled out in warning, letting sparks shoot from his cheeks. Despite the warning, the enemy Mankey attacked him furiously, showing no mercy in his attacks. Pikachu dodged repeatedly, before he released a thundershock. The attack hit, making Mankey freeze for a brief few seconds, but shook it off and slammed his fists together ready for another attack. The yellow rodent took a step back in fear, noticing that Mankey was a lot stronger than him, but shook his head and glared at the Mankey. Mankey grunted happily, seeing that Pikachu was no longer running away from the challenge.

Mankey narrowed his eyes on his trainer's attacker then charged. The Pikachu also charged ready to meet him head on, but right when they were about to meet, Pikachu jumped over and landed behind him. With a ground, he released another thunderbolt that made Mankey wince in pain, but still shook it off and tackled the Pikachu, making them fall of the branch and onto the ground below.

Thankfully, they both weren't too far off the ground. Both Pokemon once again rose to their feet, prepared for battle, but a quick order made Mankey back down, despite the rage that made his body tremble. Twisting around, Mankey saw his trainer being comforted by his team mates, Eevee and Metapod.

She stared at Pikachu, before turning to him. "Mankey stop…the Pikachu was only defending himself."

Mankey shook his head and glared at the Pikachu accusingly, who returned with a glare of his own. "Mankey key man!" He growl, pointing his three-handed paw at Pikachu.

"Pika!" Pikachu snarled in returned, his cheeks sparking with electricity.

Emma frowned when both Pokemon glowered at each other. "Mankey, stand down now!"

His glare lingered on the Pikachu, before his ears folded back in distaste as he back away. "Key"

Pikachu tensed, giving them a distrustful glare. "Pika?"

Wincing as she sat up, Emma smiled. "It's alright little guy."

His ear twitched, and he stood on his hind legs. "Pika pi?"

Reaching beside her, she picked up a fallen apple and held it out to him. "Here."

Pikachu leaned back some to examine the human. She didn't seem very evil or mean looking, being more on the innocent looking side as she held out the apple. Falling back to all fours, he slowly trotted up to her. Mankey growled lowly, taking a place by his trainer's side for protection. Pikachu scrunched up his nose at the pig-monkey Pokemon, and stuck his tongue out at Mankey. Mankey gave him a flabbergasted look then clenched his fists.

"Mankey…" Emma warned in a low tone, placing her hand delicately on his head.

He halted, and then reluctantly lowered his head in submission. "Mankey…"

Pikachu gave a surprised look at how the human girl had easily calmed the Mankey down. Slowly, he walked over to her with extreme caution, glancing over at Mankey, who looked like he wanted to attack. Pikachu sniffed and flicked his ear, before he rose on two feet with the apple in front of him. Looking up, he saw the girl still wore a hopeful smile, while watching him. He looked away from her gaze and took the apple from her, giving her a small grateful smile, before he took off with the apple.

"Huh?" Emma blinked, watching the wild Pikachu getting further away. "I guess he didn't trust me that much…" She said with a sad look.

Mankey patted her should, while glaring in the direction of where the Pikachu took off. "Key man mank."

Eevee nodded her head, nuzzling Emma's hip with her head. "Ev eve!"

Metapod only stayed in its spot and stared off into another direction. "Pod…"

Emma sent them a grateful look. "Thanks for trying to cheer me up you guys"

They all nodded…well Metapod rocked and gave her an eye smile.

She turned back to where the yellow rodent had taken off and felt angry with herself that she hadn't challenged it. She couldn't be a champion with this kind of attitude, though; she still knew that Pokemon deserved respect to. But still…her shoulders slumped as she stood up and opened her bag, checking its contents. The berries weren't hurt, and neither were the Apples thankfully. She must have landed on the opposite side of her bag, allowing the berries and apples to be free of damage.

With a sigh, she returned Mankey and Metapod back into their respective Pokeballs and picked up her partner, placing her on her shoulder. Emma stretched her shoulders up, electing a surprised yip from Eevee as the small fox dug her nails into her trainers hoodie in an attempt to not lose her balance. Emma winced, feeling the small, sharp claws pierce her skin, but shook off her pain.

She then began walking in a direction in hopes that she will somehow, with a miracle, she will find the path. She remembered when she was little; her father had told her to hug a tree when ever she got lost in the woods. She doubted that hugging a tree would help her in her troubling situation right now. And besides, if she ever did get lost her brothers would always come and use their four legged Pokemon to sniff her out. But, her getting lost back in Orre rarely happened as she was always watched over by her brothers or others that she knew.

"Uh…"

A twig snapped behind her, making Emma whirl around almost making Eevee slip off her shoulder. Emma glared at the new person behind her, but it softened when she just saw it as one of the girls from the Pokemon Lab. Emma remembered the girl as Sophia.

She was a pretty girl with short shoulder length brown curly hair with bags above her chocolate eyes, both going well with her pale skin. She wore a white sundress that was tightened around her waist, showing off her figure, with white cowboy boots that had elegant gold designs on the sides.

Emma raised a brow, but offered the girl a friendly smile. "Hi…uh…Sophia right?"

The girl nodded, sending brown curls bouncing. "Um yeah, and your Emma, the girl from…"

"The Orre Region" Emma supplied, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, Orre…" The girl rubbed the side of her head.

Emma nodded, but the raised a brow. "Where is the other girl?"

"Oh, you mean my twin, Layana right?"

"I guess" Emma shrugged. "I never really got your names"

"That's true, and the reason she's not here is because I kinda ran off after a Pokemon, and then I wound up lost." She said sheepishly, rubbing the back of her head.

"Well join the club" Emma muttered.

She gave her a surprised look. "You're lost, too?" She sighed loudly in despair. "I was hoping that you knew the way back to the path"

"I wish I knew"

Sophia muttered something under her breath that was too low for Emma to hear. Then, she stood straight. "How did you get lost?"

"Chased by Beedrill" Emma answered simply.

Sophia shivered, her face screwing up in disgust. "Yeah I heard those things were very aggressive and territorial" She made a 'Blah' sound. "And their bugs!"

Emma gave her a weird stare. "What's wrong with bugs?"

"Nothing, if you like creepy crawling Pokemon," She said. "Besides I prefer cute Pokemon"

"Cute Pokemon won't always win the battle." Emma said sternly. "You need different types that will help you in the future, and sometimes they won't be cute"

Sophia shook her head. "No way, cute all the way!"

Emma 'humped' loudly, showing her displeasure. "Cute Pokemon are not everything, you know" She breathed. "A trainer needs to think about a variety of Pokemon they want to capture, for future use instead of just choosing one type of Pokemon."

Sophia giggled softly. "I'm not going to be a trainer. Instead I'm going to leave Kanto and head to Hoenn, to become a Coordinator."

"A Coordinator…" Emma rubbed her chin. "Isn't that where your Pokemon compete in contests?"

Sophia nodded as she placed her hands on her hips and lifted her head up. "Yep, Clarita, my rival, is going there also with her two friends."

Emma held a look of interest. "Clarita…your rival?"

She nodded, looking determined with her fists clenched. "Yep, Clarita has been my rival ever since pre-school!" She grinned widely. "Being a coordinator had been both of our dreams, and finally when I arrive in Hoenn I'm going to beat her in a contest and then that'll show her I'm not a loser as she calls me!"

"Some dream," Emma commented with a small smile. "I wish you luck, but what about you sister? Will she travel with you?"

"Yup!" She said, popping the 'P'. "Though, she wants to be a Pokemon breeder and there's a great place down there where she could learn."

"A Pokemon Breeder?" Emma smile widened at the familiar title. "We had a lot of those at the Lab, where I lived."

"Really? Did you have any Coordinators?" Sophia questioned.

She shook her head. "No sorry"

"Oh…" She whispered, but hid her disappointment away quickly. "That's too bad."

Emma shrugged. "I guess"

"Anyway," Sophia began. "Would you like to travel together until we find the path?"

Emma felt unsure, but said yes anyway. "I guess so…"

Sophia clapped her hands and grinned. "Great!" She grabbed Emma's hand, dragging her off in another direction. "Come on, no time to waste!"

"W-wait!" Emma gasped out as she almost tumbled to the ground.

"Waiting is for losers!" She shouted, laughing as she ran through the bushes with Emma stumbling behind her. "We have to hurry if we want to find the road before it gets dark!"

"B-but you don't e-even know where you're going!" Emma exclaimed, worried about getting even more lost.

Sophia just shook her head, a wide grin still on her face as her eyes glistened. "Better heading in one direction then staying in one spot!"

Emma planted her feet down and pulled against Sophia's tug, yanking her hand from the other girls grip. "That doesn't even make since!" She breathed, hands on her knees, hunched over.

"You're not really athletic are you?" Sophia questioned innocently, rocking back and forth on the ball of her heels.

Emma glared. "No, I'm not and please if you would, do not pull me anywhere, anymore. Got it?"

Sophia rolled her eyes. "Whatever let's just keep going."

Emma stayed in her spot, glaring at Sophia's back. _How could she be so calm about being lost?_ She wondered. "Do you even know where you're going?"

"Nope," Sophia replied, popping the 'P'. She kept her back to Emma as she spoke, shrugging her shoulders as she continued. "I rather be searching for the road than standing around, planning on where it_ could_ be, wasting time and daylight."

"Your so called search could have you walking in circles without knowing it," Emma argued. "Besides do you remember which way you came from before you bumped into me?"

"I'm lost," Sophia sniffed. "And I don't remember."

"What do you mean you don't remember?" Emma asked, rubbing her temple.

"Exactly what I said" She replied, turning around to look at Emma. "So are you coming to look with me or not?"

Sophia then widened her eyes, with a small glisten in it. "You are my friend aren't you?"

Emma's eye twitched at the puppy face that Sophia was giving her, then she shook her head. "No and I'm not your friend, we only just met" She said coolly, with Eevee nodded her head at her trainers response.

"Wha?—" Sophia gaped a little, looking a little flustered. She looked at Emma in shock, quickly dropping her puppy dog look and standing up straight, stiffened. "B-but why not?"

Emma sighed as she ran a hand though her hair. "1) I just met you and 2) running around in the forest without a plan will help us get nowhere."

Sophia twiddled her thumbs. "I guess so…"

Emma nodded. "Good. Now then we need to figure out which way to go…"

Sophia rolled her eyes playfully as Emma stood in a thinking pose, with a hand holding her chin, while her other arm was wrapped around her waist. Her Eevee wrapped its self around her neck, looking like a thick scarf. Sophia sighed in boredom and began walking around, fingering the fabric of her dress.

Glancing over at the new girl as everyone at the lab called her, she found Emma speaking to Eevee as if asking for Pokémon's approval on something. Sophia frowned as she saw the Pokemon shake its head and lick the girls' cheek, seemingly encouraging her on something. Truthfully, she thought Emma was kind of weird. She did have a good attitude and everything, but she didn't seem to connect to people like she did with her Pokemon. It seemed as if she could almost understand what the Pokemon was saying as she nodded whenever her Eevee yipped at her.

Sophia looked away and picked up a rock from the ground, tossing it up in the air then catching it. She couldn't help but feel a little jealous of how close Emma and her Pokemon was. She remembered when Emma had said she had the Pokemon since she was 7 after easily winning the double battle. She knew that was probably a reason, but it was kind of weird how the girl got along better with Pokemon rather than humans. At the lab she didn't even pay them any attention, besides glancing at each person in the room, analyzing them. But, with Eevee she always talked to her as though she knew what the Pokemon was saying, and taking the shaking of the Pokémon's head or its yips into consideration.

Sophia shook her head and tossed her rock behind her, ignoring the way it made a thumping sound against the ground. She started to walk back over to Emma, but stiffened when she heard a low buzzing sound, that sent chills up her back. Turning her head to the sound, she bit her lip to hide the small squeak that wanted to slip out when she saw the bushes moving with a large yellow head peeking out of it. Its two light red eyes stared at her.

'_If looks could kill…'_ She thought with a shudder. She took a step back accidently stepping on a small twig that made a small snap sound. The being in the bush 'buzzed' louder and the bushes rustled more as other yellow heads with red eyes peaked out. Sophia clamped a hand over her mouth to keep a scream of fear and disgust down, when the yellow heads rose up, showing that they were Beedrill.

"Emma…" She whispered, slowly inching back towards the girl.

"Not now" Emma said, waving her off.

The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. "Emma…"

"Seriously Sophia, I'm trying to figure out something"

"But!"

'_Buzzzz…'_

Emma stiffened at the sound. "Oh…crap"

Eevee flattened her ears and puffed her fur out to look intimidating but the Beedrill kept floating towards them. Quickly standing up, Emma grabbed Eevee off her shoulder and hugged her to her chest. Backing away with Sophia, she counted all five Beedrill and cursed silently.

Sophia whimpered, grabbing Emma's arm in panic and stood slightly behind her. "Emma what do we do?"

"Uh…" She was at a loss of words. "I don't know, but they look angry, I wonder why?"

Sophia looked away sheepishly. "I might have…uh…threw a rock and it may have hit one of them"

Emma glared at her and hissed. "What?!"

The Beedrill flew closer to them, buzzing loudly as they gained speed. Emma's eyes widened when they flew in different directions.

She panicked. 'Their trying to circle us!'

She broke out of Sophia's grip and ran, shouting. "RUN!"

Sophia obeyed, following after Emma as fast as she could.

R&R


	12. Chapter 12

I do not own Pokemon or any of its characters, I only own my OC's

Chapter 12

Emma sucked in a deep breath of air as she and Sophia were still running from the Beedrill. Whatever Sophia did angered the Pokemon it made them mad. Angry enough, that they'll chase them forever, until they caught them. Her eye twitched in agitation, she should have never agreed to team up with Sophia. She felt a little guilty admitting it silently, but shook her head and returned her attention back to running. She huffed, wincing at her burning lungs and throat.

The Beedrill behind them 'buzzed' loudly, scaring off ever Pokemon near them. They trailed quickly after the two children, catching up every so often before they would fall behind because of a branch or tree. This had made their temperament worse as they continued on with their chase, getting closer by the minute.

Emma willed herself to breath evenly; remembering how Noel had told her that it would help her in the long run. Literally. She had thought about bringing out all her Pokemon, but decided against it unless was necessary. These Beedrill probably wouldn't even give her time to turn around before they attacked in their fury. Plus, if she had stopped, that would mean Sophia having to bring out her Pokemon, which Emma was sure was hardly trained.

If Sophia was close to her Pokemon or at least spent any time with them she would have known that her Squirtle could have been able to speak to the forest's Pokemon and ask for directions. Emma had tried this but the forest Pokemon didn't seem too keen on having humans near them, even captured Pokemon made them try to run away on sight. Her Eevee had approached many Pokemon they had saw, but each one-all bug types-had turned away from her or just closed their eyes. It seemed as though wild Pokemon didn't respect the caught Pokemon. Emma wondered what it was all about, but decided not to pry into something that didn't concern her.

Beside her, Sophia wasn't fairing very well either. The girl kept tripping, but thankfully regaining her balance before she actually met the ground face first. Her breathing was irregular; breathing fast one minute then slows the next. She could tell Sophia was getting tired as she was also. The both of them had been running for a while, with the Beedrill right behind them; their sharp, pointed daggers up pointing at them, itching for the attack. They were catching up, Emma knew as she tightened her grip on Eevee in a reassuring squeeze. A faint smile made its way on her face as Eevee yipped out encouragements, glaring at the direction in front of them with her ears folded back.

But the smile was wiped off when a large gentling object flew past her fast making her yelp in surprise. A push from behind, made her tumble forward onto the ground. She crashed down painfully, scraping her elbows and arms as she impacted. Emma rolled a few times before she stopped lying on her side with Eevee lying in her limp arms. A shout from her right made her freeze, but she slowly relaxed when Sophia came into view, yelling for her to get up as the Beedrill began to surround them.

"Get up!" She shouted, crouching over her body.

She shook her shoulder. "Emma get up!"

Gritting her teeth and ignoring the small prickling sensation arms, legs, and any other part that had gotten scratched, she pressed the palms of her hand against the ground and pushed up. Sophia helped her into a sitting position by steadying her. In Emma's lap, Eevee yipped worriedly at Emma as she saw the small scratches on her trainer.

Emma patted her on the head. "It's alright Eevee" She whispered lowly to her longtime friend.

The two Pokeballs on Emma's belt rattled as if wanting permission before being released. Emma placed her hand on them and rubbed both Pokeballs soothingly despite the situation they were in. The Pokeballs ceased the rattling, but they shook every second or two.

Emma looked up at the Beedrill with a glare. She sat up from her hunched position, and then slowly stood up.

"Sit down!" Sophia hissed, trying to pull Emma back down but stopped when Eevee growled at her in warning. Sophia blinked as she saw Emma stand up tall, meeting the Beedrills glare with one of her own.

She watched as Emma help up her hands in surrender, then spoke. "I don't know what my friend did to you, but she didn't mean it. Honest Beedrill, she didn't. And I'm sorry if she made you angry."

Beedrill-the large one, possible the leader- buzzed loudly, sounding angered as he waved his large spear around. "Buzz buzzzz" He argued angrily then pointed at Sophia before pointing at a rock below him.

Sophia gaped, knowing what it was talking about. "Crap…the rock I threw"

Emma snapped her fingers. "The rock must have hit Beedrill!"

Beedrill nodded. "Buzzz" He turned to Sophia, glaring at her accusingly.

"W-what?" Sophia stammers as all the Beedrill make her their center of attention. She shivered and stumbled back, but stopped remembering that they had them surrounded.

"Apologize," Emma said in an ordering tone, narrowing her eyes at Sophia in a threatening glare.

"What d-do you mean? Apologize?" Sophia asked whimpering as her extreme phobia with Bug Pokemon kicked in. "Why s-s-should I a-apologize?"

Emma frowned when she saw the girl looking at the Pokemon in fear. Hoping to calm her, Emma stepped next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "_You_ threw a rock at them"

"It w-w-was a-an acc-accident"

"Just apologize, please!" Emma pleaded, seeing the Beedrill float around them impatiently. "No one cares if it was an accident or not. Just apologize and they'll leave."

Sophia shook her head, clenching her eyes shut. "I-I'm s-sorry B-B-B-Beedrill" She braced herself for what ever happened next. She still felt Emma warm hand grip her shoulder tightly, making her feel somewhat safe.

She heard Emma snuck in air. "Sophia you're afraid of bug types right?"

She nodded quickly. "Y-y-yeah…"

The grip tightened. "Don't open your eyes"

"Wha?" She felt confuse. _Why doesn't Emma want her to open her eyes?_

"Don't ask, just keep your eyes closed alright"

Suddenly a deep filling of curiosity burned in her, trying to coax her into opening her eyes. Images on what it could have been filled up her mind on what it could possibly be. Her eyelids shuttered, only allowing a few rays of golden light to enter in the darkness. A beating sound could be heard near her, louder, more defined than the other beating noises that came from the Beedrill. Her body shuttered at the thought of one of those disgusting creatures being anywhere near her. Almost near enough to touch her!

Her hands twitched as the need to grab Squirtle's Pokeball rose. But, she knew she couldn't. Her Pokemon wasn't…well obedient, preferring to do things on its own rather than listen to her. The little guy could care less about her as he showed it when he laughed her when a Pidgey up and attacked her when she tried to capture it by herself, while he watched on the sidelines. Sophia was perplexed at his attitude. She thought starter Pokemon were supposed to help their trainer become stronger and obey their every command. But not this little guy…oh no, his attitude actually infuriated her to no end. Her sister called her immature as her and Bulbasaur became annoyed by her and Squirtle's arguing.

She shook her head. _'I don't need Squirtle's help. I can do it by myself!' _She thought, and then opened her eyes.

A scream would have spewed from her mouth when she saw the Beedrill up close and in her personal space. Her mouth was quickly covered by Emma's hand as though the girl knew she would open her eyes. Her heart thudded hard, as the Beedrill floated in front of her, examining her from the looks of it. Sophia's hand shot up and gripped Emma's wrist, yanking her hand away from her mouth and cradling it to her chest as though it would protect her.

Emma let out a sudden yelp when her wrist was yanked, sending her down in a jerk. At the sudden motion, Eevee lost her balance and was sent to the forest floor, landing on her side. Emma's attention was instantly turned to the wellbeing of her friend, and she let out a sigh as Eevee shook off the dirt from her coat.

The Beedrill floated in front of her, while the others flew around them waiting for a signal of some kind. Emma felt no threat letting the Beedrill come near Sophia, despite know her fear of the Bug-Types. The Pokemon kept a few inches of distance between itself and Sophia. Emma felt as though it was trying to intimidate Sophia and it was working to an extent. The Pokemon had her cowering away from it in fear, shaking in her arms like a leaf in the wind.

'_Assertion of dominance'_ Emma guessed. She remembered how Pokemon at the Poke Fields always asserted their dominance, usually by fighting or sparing. She used to watch them fight a lot when she was younger, of course, Khan and her baby Raid was there beside her as always. The mothering Pokemon stood proudly beside her as no Pokemon ever seemed to question her about dominance, and watched on with her. Khan seemed amused as Emma, Eevee, and Raid always got hyped up, cheering for both Pokemon. This had boosted the battling Pokémon's ego, flaring their already strong will to battle even more.

Emma sighed as she stood hunched over due to Sophia having her arm in a death grip. She wondered how she even got into the position she was in now. By being nice of course. It wasn't a bad thing to do, to help someone. But sometimes it got her into major trouble she would have rather avoid.

It wasn't long before the Beedrill left, flying off in a random direction to her right. She couldn't remember where exactly as she focused her attention on Sophia, who was still shaking like a leaf. Lightly prying her hands from Sophia's grip, she tugged at the girls dress cloth and pointed out to her that the Beedrill were gone and hopefully wouldn't be coming back any time soon.

After Sophia pulled herself together, they continued trying to find the path occasionally stopping to take a short break every once and a while. As the minutes passed by, Emma and Sophia had a conversation with each other about their lives in their separate regions. Both, feeling their words with the love they had for their homes.

Emma rolled her shoulders, dodging the small bits of sunlight that made it through the tall, thick trees. She preferred the shade as of right now as the heat of the forest didn't need to get any hotter. Thankfully Eevee had chosen to walk when she sensed how uncomfortable she was. She gave a small smile to her partner who returned it with a side grin, showing her two small fangs.

Emma also found out that Sophia wasn't bad company to have. Her first thought of the girl was that she was dull and ditzy, but over all she was very interesting to talk to. Even though she only talked about becoming a top Coordinator. Emma thought it was a good dream just like hers. She had even told Sophia of her dream to travel all around the world and collect badges from different regions.

Sophia gave her a surprised look when she told her. Obviously, she wasn't expected something like that probably thought she would collect Kanto badges and return home. Sophia's shock slowly receded and was soon replaced by a smile. She thought of it as too much work, but still thought of it as a good dream to have.

"That's a really big dream" Sophia commented, while looking at the stains on her dress in distaste.

"Yours is to" Emma pointed out, cuddling Eevee close to her chest. "Being top Coordinator and everything"

She shrugged. "I guess…I never really thought about it"

Emma gave her a side glance, halting on stroking Eevee's fur. "Are you just going to collect Hoenn Ribbons? There are other regions that have pokemon contests, too."

"I know that" Sophia grumbled. "I just don't know how I'm going to win them"

"…with a Pokemon"

"I know that!" She snapped in annoyance.

"Then why do you wonder about it?" Emma questioned, grinning as her new friend scowled.

"Well," She began. "It's my Pokemon he doesn't really like me for some reason. He's always disobeying me and won't listen to anything I tell him" She huffed. "Isn't a Pokemon supposed to listen to their trainers?" She asked more to herself than to Emma.

"It's true a Pokemon is supposed to do what the trainer says, but remember your Pokemon has feelings to, Sophia. They are not tools, they are our partners"

"Well he isn't a very good partner" Sophia muttered childishly with her cheeks puffing out. "It's because of him I haven't caught a single Pokemon!"

"The entire fault cannot be on Squirtle," Emma said, resuming to rubbing Eevee's head. "You are his trainer and it's your job to watch out for him and to try to understand him."

"I do, but he…he just…UGH!" She cried out, running her fingers through her head in frustration.

"Sounds like a trouble maker" Emma mused.

"Oh you don't know the half of it!" She whined, pointing a finger at Emma before returning back to her side. "Every time I let him out of the Pokeball he does everything in his power to make me miserable"

"Have you ever tried talking to him?" Emma asked.

Her shoulders slumped. "Whenever I do he just sprays water in my face"

She cracked a smile. "Really?"

Sophia gave her friend a look. "It's not funny Emma!" She whined. "How am I supposed to become a top Coordinator if my own Pokemon won't even listen to me?"

Emma gave her friend a pitying look. She tried to remember what Prof. Michael would say right now. Whenever she had a problem with people or Pokemon he always knew how to fix it and make everything better. Or her mother, she knew how to deal with tough situations, though, her mother wasn't really skilled in the Pokemon department, rather being skilled with people instead.

First off she knew that a Pokemon would rebel against their trainer if they treated them wrong or just didn't want to do what their trainer wanted them to do. She messaged her temple, ignoring Sophia who kept talking to her. Sophia was putting a lot of the blame on her Pokemon, but it can't be his entire fault. Sophia had to be doing something he didn't like…

Emma remember once, Prof. Michael told her about a regular Pokemon he once captured, a Cacnea, when he was traveling around the world. The small Pokemon had an arrogant and self-centered personality, thinking of the Professor as not worth his precious time. He told her about how the Pokemon would always disobey him and shoot pine needles at him whenever he ordered him to do anything. He was at his wits end with the Pokemon, not knowing what to do, until they found poachers in the woods. Instead of using Espeon, he called upon Cacnea to battle the criminals. But Cacnea lost and was stolen. Emma remember how she had gasp in horror, a smile played on her lips as she recalled the rest of the story. It took him two days to locate the poacher and take back Cacnea. Cacnea then defeated the man and his Houndoom. After that, Cacnea found respect for his trainer as he didn't abandon him.

She snapped her fingers. "That's it!"

"What's it?"

"Your Pokemon doesn't respect you"

"Excuse me?"

"Your Pokemon doesn't respect you" She repeated.

"Gee, I could have told you that" Sophia grumbled and crossed her arms.

Emma rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "I didn't mean for it to come out wrong. What I mean is that since it has no respect for you do something that will gain its respect"

She put her hands on her hips. "And how am I supposed to do that exactly?"

"Eh?" She rubbed her chin. "I guess we have to think of something…"

"Doesn't matter…"

_What?_

Emma gave her a surprised look. "Doesn't matter? Of course it Matters!" She ran forward and stood in front of Sophia, giving the girl a determined glare. "Squirtle is your partner! Yeah you'll have a few rough moments together, but you choose him so at least try to get along with him!"

Sophia flinched and looked away. "But…"

Emma shook her head. "No buts, just call him out"

"Emma…" Sophia started, hoping to persuade her to see it her way. "I doubt this will even work"

"Well we won't know until you've tried" Emma replied, giving her a firm glare. The two had a stare down, narrowing eyes and standing up straight.

Finally, Sophia relented and nodded her head. "Fine I'll give it a try, but if he sprays us both don't say I didn't warn you"

"Duly noted" Emma grinned smugly as she watched Sophia grab her only Pokeball, still looking shiny and new. _Hardly touch at all_, Emma frowned at the thought.

Sophia gripped the Pokeball tightly in her left hand, watching as its shiny, smooth surface reflected off light. A soft sigh escaped her lips as she murmured a short prayer. Loosening her grip, she threw the ball up into the air. "Squirtle!" She yelled, calling the name of her partner out.

He replied with a 'Squirt' and grinned, giving a small pose as he materialized. He stood in his pose for a few seconds before he blinked in, what seemed like, confusion. He cocked his head and starred up at Sophia with an unreadable expression. He stare turned into a glare in the matter of seconds, followed by a blast of water spraying from his mouth.

Sophia cried at the sudden attack and stumbled back, falling on her butt. Water covered from head to toe, dripping off her. "Darn it all to heck!" She screamed as she pulled at the cloth material on her stomach, making it let out a loud suction sound.

Squirtle laughed at her and did his pose, feeling proud of himself. Though, his laughter slowly dwindled when he heard a sound from behind him. He turned around and saw another trainer with a furry Pokemon cuddled in her arms. His ego boosted when he saw the amusement dancing in eyes, though, he did a small bit of shock in there as well. Curiously, he walked over to her and gave her a wide grin.

Emma and Eevee returned the mischievous Pokémon's grin with a smile of their own. She bent down and set Eevee on the ground, allowing the fluffy Pokemon to walk over and sit beside Squirtle. Squirtle nodded at Eevee, and then looked up at Emma. She smiled and held out her hand to him. He glanced up at her curiously, before spewing water at her face, sending her falling backwards.

"Ack!" Emma coughed, blinking at the sudden attack.

Squirtle stared at her seriously, waiting for her response. He stepped back, expecting her to yell and rave about ruining her clothing like his trainer did, but instead she laughed.

"Hahahahaha" She giggled. "That was a good one Squirtle!"

Eevee yipped in laughter. "Ev Eevee!"

Squirtle gave them both a surprised look. "Squir?"

"That was a good one" She said happily, patting him on the head.

"Squir?" He tilted his head.

"Don't encourage him Emma" Sophia growled, glaring at the Pokemon who stared at her with a smug expression.

"Why not?" She asked. "He's just playing around"

"Squir" He agreed, standing slightly closer to Emma when he saw the glare grow stronger. He relaxed some when the new girl placed a hand on his hand.

"Oh come on Sophia, he's a fun little guy!" She giggled and picked up Squirtle, placing him in her lap. "A mischievous little guy, aren't you?"

Squirtle rubbed the back of his head. "Squirtle Squirt"

Across from them, Sophia's glare softened when she saw Squirtle happily sitting in Emma's arms. How was it that Emma could connect to Pokemon easily and not get mad? Sophia sighed and stood up, a whimper coming from her as her wet dress stuck and slid across her skin as she moved.

Looking down at Emma, she saw both the blonde and the two Pokemon with her starred up at her. She ran a hand through her wet hair, pulling back the strands that stuck to her face. "Hey Squirtle…" She gave him a tight lipped smile.

_I guess it wouldn't hurt to try_…

R&R


End file.
